Finding His Heart
by Catgirl-13
Summary: A young girl's dream comes true the day she opens an email that thrusts her into the Dragonball Universe. There she meets our beloved antihero, Piccolo. But not everything is as it should be. Chapter 11 now up
1. Default Chapter

Untitled  
  
Disclaimer: I own myself, but no one else. Summery: Well now, I get zapped into the wonderful world of DBZ! Done a million times, but what do I care? A/N: The story takes place in Dragonball, not DBZ. So no one knows about the Saiya-jins, and Piccolo is still technically evil. It's about six months before the World Marshal Arts Tournament w/ Goku and Piccolo. Now, on to the story!!  
  
It was a normal day, like any other. School had just let out, and I was more than happy to be home. Oh, by the way, my name is Colleen, if you were wondering. I ran in the house and jumped in front of the computer to log on to my favorite DBZ sites. I am a DBZ-aholic. All of my friends think I'm quite strange. They're crazy, ne? "Colleen, finish your homework before you log on." my mom said. "Sure mom." 'Not. Sorry, but I need my Piccolo dose of the day.' Piccolo is my all time favorite Z warrior. I mean, what's not to like: green skin, tall muscular figure, fangs (gotta love em), and soul piercing eyes. And his voice is oh so sexy! Anywho, I had logged on to one of the many Piccolo sites on my favorites list, and there was a strange noise on my computer. "Weird, it's never made that noise before. I hope it's not crashing!" After a half an hour or so I got up to go get a snack. Nuked fries and Surge, yummy! I went back to the computer to check my e-mail because the thing was going nuts. "You have mail! You have mail!" I accessed my e-mail and there was a strange message. "A once in a life time opportunity. "Probably an advertisement. But, what the heck." I opened it and there was that strange noise again. It read: Dear recipient, This is your lucky day! I offer you a chance to see what no one has. Your dreams will come true, and you shall receive great power. I urge you to join us here. Just click the enter button at the bottom to receive great wonders. ~A Fellow Z Fan~  
  
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"Ok, who ever sent me this is on crack," I said aloud. It sounded like a DBZ hippie sent me this. Very few people I knew liked DBZ. And most of them were boys who didn't know my e-mail address. "It does sound interesting, though." I knew I shouldn't, it was wrong. I could end up giving my computer a virus, or accidentally give some whacko all my personal information so he could hunt me down and kill me. But the temptation was driving me mad!! I had to know what would happen if I clicked that button. I just * had * to know! My mouse slowly went towards the enter button. Closer....closer...and 'click'. At first nothing happened. Then that weird noise started again, only much, much louder. "What the heck is going on?!?!" I yelled. All of a sudden the screen started to glow a bright red. The words ' Welcome, to your new home' flashed across the screen in black. The light got brighter and brighter, until I could see nothing but it. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I felt as though I were being sucked into a vortex of some sort. Colors flashed before my eyes and then... "Oof!" I landed on solid ground. Wait a second, THE GROUND!?!?! "AH!" I got up and looked around. I was in the middle of a forest. I looked down upon myself. Instead of wearing a pair of blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt, I was wearing baggy black pants and a red shirt with the shoulders cut off, and the sleeves reached just above my elbow. My long brown hair was down instead of up, like I had it earlier. "This is too freakin' weird! How the heck did I get here?? Wait, that e-mail. Who ever sent it is ganna PAY!!" I walked around for a while, until I found a small pond. I looked into it. 'Hey,' I thought to myself 'I don't look half bad!' Then I noticed something. My face looked different. My nose and eyes, too. I looked almost.. "No, that's impossible. I can't be.. animated!!"  
  
A/N: Evil aren't I??? Well, you like, you hate, tell me. This is my first fanfic, so go easy on me. Flames will be ignored. Constructive criticism, however, is greatly appreciated! I won't update until I get 5 reviews. So please review!!!!!!!!! Ja-ne!!!!! 


	2. The Great Outdoors

Disclaimer: Do you really think I own this?  
  
A/N: Wow, I didn't expect to get my five reviews so quickly! Thank you to all my fans!! As I promised, here is chapter 2.  
  
"I'm, I'm....this can *not* be happening !!" There was no way I could be a cartoon character! I was real, I tell ya, REAL!! "Ok, Colleen, don't panic. There has to be a reasonable explanation for all of this. I received an e-mail that somehow transported me to another dimension. But where am I?" I didn't recognize a thing. All trees and bushes look alike to me, so I wouldn't know what general area I was in from the scenery. There had to be something I could recognize. A bird in my area, or a stream I knew of, or a rock, or stick, or anything to tell me where the heck I was.  
  
I started to walk around, looking for anything familiar. So far I found zilch, zippo, nadda, didley squat. I did notice, however, that there weren't any animals around here. A squirrel or two here and there was about it. There were quite a few abandoned bird nests in the trees, with the eggs still in them. 'It's as if they just upped and left. Like something scared them off. Weird.' I walked some more and found scorch marks on a few of the trees. "A forest fire?" I said, "But the burn look too controlled to be caused a normal fire." This was getting stranger and stranger. Maybe I was transported to a world where people were wiped out along with animals. "Well, if there's a 'last man on Earth', I'm steering clear!"  
  
It was starting to get dark. I must have been wandering around for hours. I started looking around for a place to spend the night, when I felt eyes watching me. Somehow, I could just feel someone was there, like I felt their essence or something. In any case, I was starting to get totally creeped out. I wandered a while until I found a quiet little dead hollow tree trunk. Not exactly a five star hotel, but at this point, I wasn't too picky. I gathered some wood, lit a fire, and attempted to try to sleep. "There are no animals, and hope there aren't any bugs either." The thought of having little creepy crawlies made me shudder. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the little things. I just don't like it when they crawl around in my hair. I'm just funny that way.  
  
I tossed and turned and tried counting sheep, goats, pigs, elephants, and any other animal you can think of, but Mr. Sandman had stood me up. I could still feel someone out there, watching me, just waiting till I fell asleep to strike. I wasn't about to close my eyes unless the feeling went away, or I was certain I could kick the crap out of whoever was out there. Maybe it was that 'last man on Earth' I was thinking about. Well, he'd be a tiny bit disappointed. I looked at the fire, it was going out. "Great, there's a stalker out there and I have to go get fire wood. Someone really doesn't like me."  
  
I had gathered a good amount of fire wood, and started to head back to my "room". That's when I saw it. A black figure behind a tree with red, glowing eyes staring straight at me. My breathing stopped and my voice got trapped in my throat. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I just stared straight back at the shadow. It shot up into the air at record- breaking speed. Then I did what any sane person would do; I ran like my hair was on fire! I knew it was after me, and I had to run like Hell. I could see the light to my fire, I was almost there. The shadow jumped in front of me and I went into a dead halt. I saw that it was at least a foot taller than me. All coherent thought had packed up and left, so I tried to fight whatever this was. It easily threw me aside next to the entrance of the trunk (my 5 star hotel) and pinned me to the ground. We were close to the fire, and I saw his face. "P-Piccolo?!?!"  
  
  
  
A/N: Well that's it for now. I'm in quite a predicament, aren't I? Send in reviews, please!!! Ja-ne!! 


	3. Hi there, Piccychan!

Disclaimer: I am Akira, hear me roar!!!!!!!!! NOT!!  
  
A/N: OK, my computer's being kinda ditzy, so I may not have very many chapters out. That's why the first chapter repeated the first time^_^;; But I am back! I want to thank Nikki I LOVE PICCOLO for the constructive critism. Don't be afraid to tell me what I'm dooin' wrong. Oh, and since Kittioto mentioned an age thing, let's just say Pic is 16, ok.  
  
And now, the well awaited chapter 3!  
  
  
  
  
  
"P-Piccolo?!?!" I was stareing into the deep onyx eyes I knew so well and loved. I never, ever thought I would actually get a chance to look into them in real life. Normally, I would be swooning over them. But right now Piccy was scaring the heebie-jeebies out of me! "What are doing in my forest, girl?" "Um, I don't know??" I couldn't exactly tell him what I was doing here, 'cause I had no clue myself. "Not good enough." he said coldly. He lifted me up by the front of my shirt and lifted into the air. He went to a protuding branch 50 feet above us and stuck me there by the back of my shirt like a slab of ribs in a meat factory. "Now, why are you here?" "ARE YOU NUTS????!!!!!!" Heights are not one of my favorite things. I was freaking out, flailing and kicking, trying to get a hold of anything so I wouldn't fall and become a pancake on the forest floor. Piccolo came up close, so close that I could feel the heat coming off of it, to my now white with fear face, and said not so nicely,"Answer me, NOW!" This was not the Piccolo I knew! He looked different, and was way meaner. This could not be the Piccolo from Dragonball Z. 'But, this would be how the Piccolo from Drangonball would act.' I thought. 'And that means that he's still......................... oh, poopey.' "You won't answer, fine." He moved away and replaced his face with his hand. It started getting hot, and a small red ball of ki formed in his hand, aimed straight at my head. And you thought I was scared before! My eyes must have grown three sizes. "WAITWAIT, I'LLTELLYOUI'LLTELLYOU!!!!!!!!! JUST *DON'T* *SHOOT*!!!!!" I yelled franticly. He put his hand down, the ki fading as it went to his side. 'Now, how exactly how was I going to explain this? Well, here goes nothing.' "My name is Colleen, I'm from another dimension. I was brought here by an e-mail I recieved from someone. I have no clue why I'm here. Could you kinda put me on solid ground now?" He looked at me skepticly, apearantly not believing me. "You expect me to buy that load of BS?" What'd I tell ya? "Believe it if you want to, it's the truth. Now, about the ground........" I said hopefully. It was lookin' mighty fine from my position. He lifted me off, flew down untill we were about five feet from it, and dropped me like a sack-o-potatoes. "Thanks....." I said sarcasticly. My butt really hurt now. Could he not have been a little more gentle?  
  
He came up to me again, looking at me as though I were his enemy. He stopped in front of me and looked me up and down. I couldn't help but blush. He looked so cute!! 'He looks around 16.' I thought to myself. He came up to my face again and looked me straight in the eye. I was just a little nervous. Oh, who am I trying to kid? The entire Three Ring Circus was dooing trapeeze flips in my stomach! "Uh, hi." He payed no attention to me. Well, not my words anyway. He seemed to be tansfixed with my eyes. That thouhgt mad me blush more. "Your weak," He said abruptly. "No threat at all. Your ki isn't even half of mine." Ah, so insulting! "Who are you calling weak, bub?!" I shot back, my arms folding like his. My temper often gets the better of me. Irish and all. Not the brightest thing I could have said. His hand cluched my shirt, again, and he lifted me up to his face. "Do you know who I am?!" he yelled. "I said your name, didn't I?" I am suicidal, aren't I? "I am Piccolo The Demon King. No one talks to me that way, got it?" "Got it, loud and clear." He put me down. Man, he was cranky!  
  
He turned around and started walking away, abandoning me there in the middle of the night. "Hey, where are you going? You're not leaving me here by myself, are you?" He looked at me like I was a lunatic. "What, what did you say?" "I said, 'you're not leaving me by myself are you?'" "Y-you *want* me to stay with you?!?!" Now it was his turn for the eye bulging. "Well, yea. There might be dangerous things out here." "And you think I am..........." "I invaded your teritory. You acted like anyone would. True, you scared the living daylights outa me, but I'm fine now." "You are one strange girl!" "Oh, like I've never heard that before." I couldn't help but smile. I was probably the first person to ask such a crazy thing. He smirked that oh-so-hunky smirk of his and walked over to me. "Ok, Colleen. I stay."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Well that's the end of chapter 3. Looks like I made a new friend!^_^ Review and tell me what you think!! Ja-ne! 


	4. Questions, Arguments, and A Bump on the ...

Disclaimer: I don't own, I don't have money, you don't sue.  
  
A/N: Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've had playing tests in band, and my algebra class isn't giving any brakes soon. But you don't care about my personal life do you? *readers shake heads 'no'* Didn't think so. Well, this chapter is going to be in Piccolo's POV. I get to be in his head. Scary, huh? And now, chapter 4. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The sun started to peak out from behind the horizon. I opened my eyes as the first rays of the golden light splashed on my face. I looked to the left to see the brunette girl I stayed with still sleeping. She moaned softly and rolled over to where I could see her face. It still puzzled me as to why this human would want me around. A 6ft. green guy with fangs, especially if it's me, isn't exactly the best companion in the world. 'Why did I decide to stay?' I thought to myself. Normally I would rather blow someone up than comply to a request to be their 'bodyguard'. But this girl was no threat as I stated last night. And she had gotten mad when I said it. I smirked. "She looked kinda cute when she was mad." I said aloud. Then I realized what I had said and mentally kicked myself. "Did I just say 'cute'? I so need to kill something!" It had been a while. The last thing I shot at was a deer yesterday morning. The little thing didn't stand a chance.(A/N: that poor thing. ;_;)  
  
  
  
The girl, what was her name? Colleen? Yea, the girl, Colleen, started to stir. She yawned and opened her ice blue eyes. 'Something about them,' I thought, 'something makes me want to look at them.' "Morning." she said groggily. I grunted in reply. Another advantage to being a demon; I am alert once I wake up. "You don't have to be so talkative." Was she mocking me?! "I talk when I want to." She shrugged, stood up, and started walking around looking for something. I raised my 'eyebrow' at her. "I'm hungry." She said. I 'hmphed'. Food, so irrelevant. You would think humans would have evolved enough so they wouldn't need it, like me. Humans were so beneath me it was funny. 'I am superior in so many ways.' I thought (A/N: full of himself, ain't he?) I was so caught up in my own thoughts I didn't hear, yea with my gargantuan ears; didn't hear, her come up to my face. I almost yelled out in surprise when her index and middle finder snapped together in front of my nose. "*giggle* I said, do you know where I can find some food?" She smiled at me, amused that she had startled me. 'Stupid onna,' I thought. "No. I don't eat." Her face fell in annoyance and she turned away, mumbling.  
  
After five minutes or so, she returned with a bunch of red colored fruit in her arms. She picked up a sharp-edged stone and started to cut into them and eat. "So," she started out "you here for any special reason?" "Training to defeat a man named Goku." The mention of his name made me grimace. I *hated* that man! "Oh. You're going to fight him in the World Tournament, aren't you?" "Yes." "Um, how long until that is, exactly?" "Six months." 'Oh. My.' She thought. Her face suddenly changed from the sickening smile and her ice eyes gleaming, to being wide eyed with her mouth gaping. "Sssss...ssssssssix m-m-months?!?!" "Yea..." She made a little squeaking noise and stared straight ahead, at nothing in particular. She then slapped her forehead and started repeating "this is not good, this is *not* good," under her breath to herself. "What's your problem?" I asked "You know how I said I was from another dimension?" I nodded. "Yes." "I'd kind of like to get home before I'm of legal drinking age! I have a family, and friends, and..and..." She stopped and looked at me with tears starting to form in her eyes. "Don't cry, please I can't stand the sound of human wailing." Her eyebrows came together in a frown, I obviously upset her. She stood up and yelled, "You insensitive jerk!!!" Then she punched me, right in the nose. And it hurt! I clutched my nose, which was now throbbing, and I think starting to bleed. I looked at my hand; yep, blood. My temper soared and I stood up, being a foot or so above her, snarling. She got that oh-crap-I've-really-done-it-now-and-am-I- ganna-get-it face. I rose my hand up, intending to knock her senseless. She tensed, scrunching her eyes shut and inhaling sharply, clutching her fists together, getting ready for my blow. But.....I couldn't hit her. I didn't want to hit her. I don't know why I didn't, I just didn't. She peeked at me with her left eye, opening only a little. "I'm sorry." She said in a small voice. I doubt anyone but I could hear it she said it so softly. I took a deep breath. "Don't do it again." I warned. I just turned around and took up my lotus position and started to meditate. "Thanks." She said, and went back to eating her fruit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
I guessed about three hours had passed since the incident with the girl. My nose felt better. She actually had a decent right hook for a human female. I looked up to find her and..... "She's gone!" I looked around the area; behind a boulder, numerous trees, I even looked in a rabbit hole. I know, why would she be there? Get off my back! I walked about a quarter mile in three of the four directions. "Where the heck did she go?" East was the only way I hadn't checked yet, so off I went. I walked for maybe two minutes when I heard splashing water. I followed the sound until I saw a small spring. I walked up to the bank trying to find what I had heard. Then Colleen sprang up from the water.... without clothes. She must have been taking a bath. 'Well, I found her.' She took one look at me and.. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Our screams must have been heard for miles. "GET OUT OF HERE!!!!" She shrieked. My hands clasped over my eyes in an attempt to make things a little better. Didn't work. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I stumbled away backwards, but not being able to see, tripped. Over, and over, and over. Not a shining moment on my part. "I SAID GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" She started throwing rocks at me, hitting me every time. "Ow, ow, I'm going, I'm going, ow, ow!" I finally got away far enough so I couldn't see her anymore.  
  
  
  
I was back to the place where we had been staying, and started to tend to the many bruises forming on my arms, and one wallop of a lump on my head. 'She has a pretty good throwing arm, too.' I thought. I touched the mountain forming on my head and winced at the pain. "I've known her one day, and she's managed to bean me more times than most people I fight. And I haven't really gotten her that mad. Well, the spring thing probably set her off as bad as I'm going to see." I blushed a little. "Wow. Did I do that?" I turned my head, and low and behold, the cause of my pain. "Yes, you did." "Here, let me see it." She stepped closer and examined my head. "I got'cha good!" She lightly touched the spot where my head was swelling. I drew in a sharp breath when her fingers reached my skin. "Man, I'm so sorry. I just kinda freaked. Didn't mean to attack to like a rabid chihuahua.(chi-WOW-wa) But you can't walk in on a girl taking a bath. It's not right." She went over to my cape which I had discarded last night. She ripped off a piece and wrapped it around my head. "There. All better." She stood up and walked over to the pile of ashes that used to be the fire. She put some wood in a pile and lit it. "Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked. She was the only one who seemed to care if I was hurt or not. "Because, it's usually customary to help the one you beat the crap out of." She said sarcastically and smiled. "No, really. I'm a demon, no one cares about me. So why do you?" She looked me in the eye. 'Those ice eyes of hers, they shine. They're mesmerizing.' "I care because....well.....I don't know. You just seem like the kind of guy that..um..it's kinda hard to explain. You say you're evil. But, I don't see evil in you." That was a first. How could I seem not evil? I had attacked her, what, twice? What could she possibly see in me. She must have seen I was confused because she said, "I know it seems hard to believe, but...I like you. You're like some of the guys back home. Except the green, tall, muscular, high temper thing." She, she LIKES me?!? How is this possible?!?!  
  
  
  
"Hey, you know how you said you were training to fight that Goku guy?" I nodded, still a little off guard from her explanation of why she was nice to me. "Well, I was wondering, would you, um, train me?" That got my brain working again. "No way, girl. I don't need an annoying kid around while I train." "Kid? I'm only about three years younger than you! Come on, you would be training yourself as well as me. It'd be a great challenge. Please Piccolo?" She did have a point. Training her would train me as well. And she could help me defeat Goku, not that I need it. Why not? "Fine, we start tomorrow." She squealed in delight. "Oh thank you, Piccy-chan! You won't regret this I promise!" She bounced away with glee like a little child getting candy. 'This should prove interesting.' I thought. 'Wait, did she call me, PICCY-CHAN???'  
  
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End of Chapter 4. I'm ganna get the stuffing beat out of me, can't'cha see it? Well I've always got my right hook to back me up! ^_^;; Review, review, review!!! 


	5. FLYING LESSON

Disclaimer: ;_; You just have to remind me I don't own it, don't you? *sniff, sniff*  
  
  
  
A/N: Hi minna-san!! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life just gettin' in the way again. Plus my computer's been on the fritz. And, this is really funny now (I emphasize the 'now'), I came home one day and guess what I saw? My dad taking the PC apart, fixing it. I nearly had a heart attack! But everything's OK now. Well nearly everything, but I don't want to bore you.  
  
Ok, this chapter, and all chapters unless stated differently, will be in third-person 'cause writing the different POVs just wasn't working. I couldn't get as much detail in as I wanted, and I just really don't want to do it. ### = dream sequence. And I'm sure you're all smart enough to know what talking and thinking looks like. Well, I've wasted enough of your time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~  
  
  
  
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It was dark, all around me. I felt something in my hand, pulling me. It was Piccolo's hand. I looked up and there he was, dragging me behind him. 'What's going on?' We were running. But from what? We were running so fast I thought my legs would fall off. "Come on, run faster!!" Piccolo bellowed at me. I tried, but I was going so fast already I didn't think I could. 'What's happening, why are we running? Why does Piccolo look so scared? Where are we? Why are we in the dark? What are we running from?' So many questions filled my mind. Something really, really bad was happening, that's all I knew. 'Piccolo just doesn't get scared for no reason.' So I ran faster, partly because Piccolo had sped up and he was practically dragging me into the ongoing darkness. "Where are we going?" I said. "Somewhere far, far away." He said back. He said something else, but it was muffled.  
  
  
  
It seemed as though we had been running forever. The endless dark didn't look like it was about to disappear anytime soon, but I trusted Piccolo. He wouldn't just lead us into a sea of black forever. He had to have a destination in mind. 'Yea, he knows where he's going.' I told myself. I didn't have much more time to think because Piccolo was just then jumped by a large shadow. Since we were running at such a fast rate, I went sprawling, momentum moving me to the side of Piccolo and the shadow. Another shadow creature appeared behind me and grabbed be from behind, pinning one arm behind my back, the other to my side with it's arm around my waist, preventing me from running to help him. I struggled hard, but the monster was much more powerful than I was. I looked to where the creature took Piccolo down. They were in a fierce battle, which Piccolo seemed to be losing. "Let me go!" I yelled, but to no avail. The shadow was like an iron statue. Piccolo had jabbed the creature he was fighting in the stomach and it fell to the ground, doubled over in pain. He was about to fire a ki blast at it when the shadow moved quickly behind him and hit him hard at the base of his neck. Piccolo cried out in pain and fell to the ground, not moving. "Piccolo, get up! Get up!!" I cried. I frantically tried to get away, but it's grip was like a vice. The shadow Piccolo had been fighting bent down and picked up his head, bringing his upper body up in a kneeling position. "Don't touch him!!!" I was mad, no, I was rageingly furious! I had to help him, I just had to! The shadow reached into his sleeve and pulled out a silver dagger with a ruby handle. "No!!!" Piccolo looked up at me with a pleading look in his eyes. ~ I'm sorry. ~ he mouthed. The shadow brought the blade to the right side of his neck. 'No, no, no, this can NOT be happening!!' He pressed the blade into Piccolo's emerald skin .............. and sliced it across his throat. Purple blood gushed from the veins in his neck. "PICCOLO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
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"NO!!" Colleen awoke with someone shaking her. It was Piccolo. "Piccolo?" She looked into his deep eyes, now filled with concern. "Are you all right? You were screaming in your sleep." 'It was just a dream. Thank God.' She let out a sigh of relief, her panting getting less frequent. "I'm fine." She replied. "Just a horrible, horrible nightmare. I'm OK." She wiped at her face. She'd been crying. She took a deep breath and held her head in her hands, sweeping them through her hair. Piccolo looked at her worriedly, making sure she didn't see him, of course. She had thoroughly scared him out of his sleep. One minute he's sleeping peacefully, the next she starts screaming and thrashing around nearly giving him a heart attack. He looked at her. She seemed calmer now. "Well, since we're both up, why don't we get started on your training." She looked at him like he had a squirrel on his head. "The suns' not even up yet!" "Do you want to go back to sleep?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "Good point." She replied. She got up and started stretching. "You can't train in that." He said pointing to her ensemble. She looked down on herself. 'What's wrong with this.' She thought, but knew better than to argue. "Well then, what do you suggest I wear?" "I'll make you a gi like mine, without the pads and turban." "Could you make it red?" "Why do you care about the color?" 'This is the strangest girl I've met.' Piccolo thought. 'Then again, this is the only girl I've met, so they might all be like this.' "Purple's not my color. And make it tighter in the shirt for me than yours. I don't really care about the pants." This girl thought he was her tailor, didn't she? He placed a hand on her head, and vualla (A/N:I have no idea how to spell this), a nice red, tight shirted gi. 'Oh, he is so making more clothes for me.' she thought happily.  
  
  
  
They went to a field not far from their camp where Piccolo had set up a large bonfire so they could see each other. "All right, first you learn how to harness and control your ki. Sit down." She complied and sat down Indian-style like him across from her. "Now relax. Look down into your being and find your energy. When you find it, bring it out through your hands like this." He put his large green hands out in front of him and a small yellow ball of energy formed in his hand. "Now you try." 'Here goes nothing.' She thought. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her hands went out in front of her and she started concentrating, searching for her hidden power. "Remember, relax." Listening to the deep baritones of Piccolo's voice helped a lot. His voice always calmed her. She concentrated harder and felt a tingling all over her body. 'Is this what ki feels like?' she thought. She found the focus point of the energy and tried harnessing it through her hands. Piccolo sat and watched as Colleen concentrated on the task he had given her. She looked peaceful, yet alert. He looked at her hands, and a little ball of red glow was starting to form. It shone bright and strong, like a red star. She opened her eyes to see the light in her hands, and a smirking Piccolo. "I did it. I did it!" "Don't get too excited, or you'll-" "Darned it." "lose it." She smiled so bright it might have outshone the fire. "I don't care if I lost it, I MADE IT!!!!!" "Well, you seem to have pretty good control, I've never seen anyone learn that fast." He was proud of her? This was too good to be true! She jumped up and hugged, that's right, hugged, him tightly around the neck. She quickly backed off and sweat dropped. "Sorry, I couldn't contain myself." Piccolo's eyes were a little wide from the shock of human contact that didn't hurt or break the skin like he was used to. "That's, uh, per-perfectly all right." He stuttered. He quickly got his composure back, though, 'Which is too bad 'cause he's so cute when he's caught off guard!' "OK, we start your flying lesson now." He stood up and walked over to Colleen. Then he wrapped both arms around her waist and lifted into the sky. Colleen blushed a nice shade of pink, then her brain got down from the high it received at his touch. 'He's teaching me how to fly, but lifting me into the sky.... OH NO!!!' "No, no, not this way! NOT THIS WAY!!!" They went higher and higher, Colleen panicking and hyperventilating all the way. Then Piccolo stopped the incline and they hovered in mid-air. "Ready to fly?" He asked. All the color vanished from Colleen's face, even her freckles could no longer be seen. She started shaking her head 'no', but when does Piccolo listen to her? He dropped her and she went plummeting down to Earth. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" 'COME ON, FLY, FLY!!!!!!' She screamed in her mind. Her eyes had been closed since P-chan, the dear, dropped her. She made a chance look down; dinner plates were micro sized compared to how large her eyes bulged up to be. 'I WANT MY MOMMYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!' She started to concentrate, closing her eyes again. 'Fly, fly, come on fly!!' She was twenty feet from being a pancake when she slowed down and finally came to a stop. She didn't feel the wind flowing past her anymore, and she peeked open an eye. She was floating, she was really flying. "I'm alive." She said in a squeaky, shaky voice. "I'M ALIVE!!!!! HOLELLUJA!!!!!!!!!" Piccolo came down to her, chuckling, and stopped in front of her. That wasn't very smart. "Wow, you stopped yourself on the first try. I'm impressed." "YOU MANIACK!!!!!!!" Her hands immediately locked around his large neck shaking his head back and forth. "I COULD HAVE BEEN FLATTENED!!!!!!!" "Colleen...I...can't.....breath!" She stopped shaking him and blinked. His face was starting to turn a lovely violet. "Oops, hehe, sorry." She let his neck go, and he had hand prints on it. He took in large gasps of air. 'This girl is trying to kill me, I know it!' He took a few more breaths and looked over to her. She was smiling sheepishly, put her hand up, and wiggled her fingers in a small wave. "Hehehe, please don't kill me." "Oh, don't worry. Wouldn't dream of it. Besides, I'll get my revenge when we start sparring." He smiled evilly. She smiled again and started floating downward. Piccolo wasn't far behind. "Now, we spar." He said. He had a smile identical to that of the Cheshire cats'. 'This is not going to be fun.' Colleen thought.  
  
  
  
Piccolo took his turban and cape off and threw them over his shoulder. He walked over to Colleen who was stretching. "Your hair's too long. I'll cut it." He went to grab her hair, but she spun around and grabbed her hair defensively behind her head. "You are not cutting my hair! I've been growing it this long for years, you're not touching it!" he sighed, annoyance fully present. This girl was so aggravating at times. "It will get in the way. Just let me cut it, okay?" "No, no way, not happening buster." His eye was starting to twitch. Colleen immediately recognized this as a bad sign. "Okay, just make me something to tie my hair back with. A scrunchie or something." "Scrunchie? What the hell is that?" How was he supposed to know what different hair products there were? He had no hair! "Um, it's a piece if cloth used to tie hair back." He looked at her quizzically. "Ugh, just let me rip off a piece of you cape off, all right?" He nodded and she went and ripped a strip of white cloth from the massive blanket of white. She tilted her head back and tied her hair back with it. "Okay, I'm ready." 'Or at least I hope so!' "We'll start with the basics. What fighting experience do you have?" Fighting experience? Her fighting experience? Ha! "Does beating up your little cousins and siblings, and hitting you in the face and strangling you count?" Piccolo face faulted. 'This is going to be a looooooong day!'  
  
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The sun was starting to peak up from the horizon when they stopped sparring. Colleen wasn't half bad for a beginner. She landed a few punches. But Piccolo had only been teaching her offense so far. He figured defense would come in a week or two. After all, he didn't want to hurt her.  
  
  
  
She had gone out looking for breakfast a few minutes ago. 'Now' Piccolo thought, 'some time to myself.' He started to meditate, a blue aura surrounding him. Colleen came back with an apple and saw him there meditating quietly. She decided to stay out of his way. She needed time to think any ways. She went over to a boulder and sat down. "Well, things could be worse. So I'm stuck here for at least 6 months. I'm with Piccolo. But I have to go home sometime. My family and friends need me, and I need them. I *will* find whoever sent me here. They must have incredible power to bring me here from the 'real world' through an e-mail. Why do I get the feeling that that is somehow connected to my dream?" Shuddered at the memory of it. She looked over toward Piccolo. "I will never let that happen." She said, and went back to eating and watching Piccolo meditate.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Little did they know someone was watching them.  
  
  
  
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My plot is starting to unfold. Yes this DOES have a plot. Amazing! I'm probably not going to update for a while. I may be gone a long time. *big 'aw' from readers* I know, I shall miss you too. But why dampen the mood? I gave you a cliffhanger, why torture you more? REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!! I'll give you a candy bar!! 


	6. Piccolo, Kami, ConversationNeed I Say Mo...

Disclaimer: ....-_-;...Do I really need to tell you I don't own it?  
  
  
  
A/N: Hi I'm back! Did ya miss me? I want to thank Jesscheaux for the criticism. I mean it people, slap me with what I'm doing wrong, but in a nice way. ^_^  
  
  
  
Thankies to Erin, one of my bestest friends, she's like my sister. She hates, I mean *hates*, anime, and she read my story anyway! She's so nice, a little demented since she doesn't like anime, but still really, really nice!  
  
  
  
Erin: Anime is stupid. How can you people like it so much?  
  
CG13: Silence!! Ye shant speak of the all wonderful anime in such vulgar a tongue! Snides, you can't realize the beauty of it. Specially Piccy- chan. You need help!  
  
Erin: You're in love with a drawing, and I'm the one who needs help?  
  
CG13: Yea, yea. But if you'd give it a chance, you'd like it!!  
  
Erin: I _highly_ doubt that.  
  
ANYways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I shant waste anymore of thy precious time. Onward to the chapter thine fellow anime worshipers!  
  
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"All right, now lean sideways and lift your left foot up."  
  
  
  
Piccolo was teaching Colleen some fighting techniques, now of which was what Colleen thought of as the hardest. Piccolo was behind her holding her waist while she tried to do a cartwheel-type move, and failing miserably. It was supposed to be smooth and elegant, a substitute to a roundhouse kick. But the way Colleen was going about it, it looked suspiciously like a bad attempt at the chicken dance. She could never do a cartwheel in the first place. Every time she tried she almost fell over, only still standing because of Piccolo's hands on her waist. She tried one more time, reaching for the ground and lifted her left foot up. She then, very slowly, lifted her right foot up until she was vertical. She stayed still for a second, them carefully descended in the opposite direction. She let out a sigh of relief when both of her feet touched the ground.  
  
  
  
"Very good. You're coming along pretty well." It had only been a few hours, and she was already getting the hang of it. Piccolo, though he wouldn't tell Colleen, was proud of her. She could fly, feel ki, and was getting most of the fighting techniques he had taught her on the first day.  
  
  
  
'We could start sparring by tomorrow.' Piccolo thought. 'This isn't as bad as I thought it would be.'  
  
  
  
*grumble* He looked down on Colleen who was giggling and holding her stomach.  
  
  
  
"Hehe, I'm hungry again. Can we call it quits for a while?"  
  
  
  
He looked at her sternly, and she was worried he wouldn't let her eat, but he then sighed and smirked, telling her she wouldn't starve.  
  
  
  
"All right. Just don't take too long. I want to star-" He suddenly stopped and looked up to the sky.  
  
  
  
"Piccolo?" Colleen looked up in the direction Piccolo was and tried to feel if something was coming. She felt someone, but didn't recognize them. After all, Piccolo's was the only ki she'd ever felt. 'What's going on?' she thought. She looked back at Piccolo to see his handsome face twist into a snarl. She looked up into the sky again, this time to see a figure flying toward them.  
  
  
  
'Who could that be?' she wondered. She strained her eyes to get a better look. 'I see blue.....white....and...green. Hey, that looks like, uh-oh. Not good.'  
  
  
  
The figure landed in front of them. "Kami." Piccolo said spitefully.  
  
  
  
"Piccolo," he replied, "We need to talk."  
  
"No. Now get out of my sight, old man."  
  
"Piccolo, this is not debatable. We must speak," Kami looked over to Colleen. "In private."  
  
  
  
"*sigh* All right, but make it snappy." He turned towards Colleen. "Go and get something to eat."  
  
  
  
"But I want-"  
  
  
  
"Now!" he said harshly.  
  
  
  
"All right." She gave one last look at Kami and turned to leave into the woods.  
  
  
  
When he know she was out of earshot, Piccolo started their conversation. "What do you want?"  
  
  
  
"She cannot be here."  
  
  
  
Piccolo looked at him strangely. "Who? Colleen? Why not? What's wrong with this place?"  
  
  
  
"She cannot stay with you, Piccolo. I'm afraid for her well being, and I'll be taking her."  
  
  
  
Piccolo stared at him with slightly wide and angry eyes. 'He can't take her from me!' he thought angrily.  
  
  
  
  
  
Colleen concealed her energy and laid on a large oak branch hanging above where Piccolo and Kami were talking. She laid on her stomach and listened closely.  
  
  
  
"You come here, into MY forest, and start ordering me around?!" Piccolo, from what Colleen could see from the top of his head, was very angry.  
  
  
  
"It is much more complicated than that." Kami defended himself. "She is not of our world. She's very powerful, too powerful. She could be a great threat to us without her even realizing it." Kami continued, "Plus, she has a pure heard. I so not want you poisoning it!"  
  
  
  
That really got both Piccolo and Colleen's goat. Colleen frowned. 'He can't talk to Piccolo like that! I know he'd never hurt me!'  
  
  
  
"Well what do you suppose we do about her then?" Piccolo said, not even trying to hide the anger in his voice.  
  
  
  
"I would put her in an energy based room at the lookout. There she would be safe from herself, and evils like you."  
  
  
  
Colleen had never heard Kami talk to Piccolo like this on Dragonball Z. She couldn't take it anymore. She jumped down in between the elderly and teenage Nameks.  
  
  
  
"Colleen, I thought I told you to-" Piccolo's words were stopped by Colleen's finger on his lips.  
  
  
  
"Can it, Pic. I need to talk to him." She turned to look at Kami and poked him in the chest. "You, how _dare_ you say those things! First off, I know I don't belong here, and it wasn't my choice to come, but I'm stuck. I don't know how powerful I am, but Piccolo will help me control it."  
  
  
  
"Child-"  
  
  
  
"Did I say I was finished?" Kami shook his head no. "Secondly, how can you say those things about Piccolo? He's like your nephew or something! Sure he's not the nicest guy in the world, but he isn't as cold-hearten as you claim to believe."  
  
  
  
She walked backwards toward Piccolo and took his hand in hers, never breaking Kami's gaze. "Piccolo is my friend. The only one I've got here, and I'm not going anywhere!"  
  
  
  
To emphasize her point her folded her arms and roughly sat on the ground lotus-style. "Go ahead, try and move me. I dare you!"  
  
  
  
Both Kami and Piccolo looked at her, flabbergasted. Piccolo was amazed by how determined she sounded, not to mention being called her friend was like sticking his finger in an outlet; totally shocking. Kami was surprised to hear her stand up for Piccolo. He looked over to Piccolo who was still looking at the girl.  
  
  
  
'Maybe if she can see good in him, there ,may actually be some in him.' He let out a long sigh. "All right, child. I shall allow Piccolo to watch you. But, " he directed his attention to Piccolo, "If you harm her, in any way, I will take her to the lookout."  
  
  
  
With that, he lifted into the air and flew away.  
  
  
  
"Man, I hate that guy! And to think we're part of each other." Piccolo said. "that's what really sucks. I can't kill him because I'll die. And if I get killed, he dies and no more Dragon Balls so I could get wished back. Hn, like anyone would wish me back anyway."  
  
  
  
"I would." Piccolo looked down at Colleen and smiled.  
  
  
  
"Why don't we continue your training." Piccolo suggested.  
  
  
  
"OK, but I'm still hungry. I'll be back in a minute!" With that Colleen took off into the woods again.  
  
  
  
"Silly girl. Can't believe she's growing on me." Piccolo said quietly. He sighed. How could a little human girl make him act so funny? "Ah well," Piccolo said. "Not like I'd get rid of her even if I could. I'm getting WAY too soft."  
  
  
  
Then he saw a sweet, little, fluffy white bunny rabbit hopping along 20ft. in front of him. A wicked smirk started to form on his lips, and he took aim. A small ki ball formed in his hand while the cute little bunny chewed carelessly on a piece of grass. Piccolo was just about to fire when he felt a tap on his shoulder, making him jump. He turned his head around for his deep onyx eyes to be met with innocent, puppy-dog blue ones.  
  
  
  
"You werewen't going to shoot the widdle bunny wabbit, were you Piccy- chan?" Colleen asked in a sweet, toddler voice.  
  
  
  
"Uh...." He didn't know how to answer. If he said 'no', it'd look suspicious. If he said 'yes', she might hate him.  
  
  
  
"You wanna shoot something bad, don't'cha?" She smiled. Maybe it was safe to say 'yes'.  
  
  
  
"Yea."  
  
  
  
Her face brightened. "I can fix that. You can shoot at me!"  
  
  
  
Piccolo's eyes got wide and he yelled, "EXUSE ME???!!!"  
  
  
  
"It'll be part of my training. I need to know how to make and dodge ki blasts."  
  
  
  
Piccolo shook his head violently. "No chance, no, no, no! What if you don't get out of the way in time? Or I aim wrong? I don't want to hurt you."  
  
  
  
"Piccolo, I trust you. I know I won't get hurt. Pweeeeaaaassseee?"  
  
  
  
Oh no, the puppy-dog eyes. 'Must resist' he thought. He shut his eyes tightly. "No."  
  
  
  
"Paaleeeeaaaasseee? With ice cream and chocolate and a cherry on top?" She put on her most pathetic face and cutest voice.  
  
  
  
Piccolo crept open an eye. Colleen put her hands together under her chin, and made a pouty-lipped face, eyes even cuter that before. "Please, Piccy?"  
  
  
  
"Damn."  
  
  
  
'No one can resist me... hehehehehe!' Colleen thought happily in her head.  
  
  
  
Piccolo growled and said, "But if you get hit once, ONCE, we go back to learning fighting techniques until you're ready. Got it?"  
  
  
  
"Yep!" She smiled and ran over to a nearby boulder. She faced Piccolo and took a fighting stance. She smirked. "Hit me with your best shot, Green- boy."  
  
  
  
"You do know how to dodge, right?" Piccolo asked.  
  
  
  
"Please, you know grow up in my family and *not* know how to dodge. Now come on! Hit me, baby!"  
  
  
  
Piccolo groaned and lifted his right hand. A ki ball started to form, not powerful enough to hurt her, just powerful enough to burn her if she were hit by one.  
  
  
  
"Are you sure you're ready?" Piccolo asked, hoping she'd come to her senses and quit while she was ahead.  
  
  
  
"Yes!" Colleen was so excited, but stayed focused. 'Piccolo is actually shooting at me!' she thought excitedly. 'Wait. That doesn't sound right.'  
  
  
  
Suddenly Piccolo let the ki ball fly. Colleen quickly ducked down, and rolled to the side as one ball of light came after another. She swiftly moved, jumped and leapt avoiding contact, and actually looking semi graceful. Piccolo started firing them faster and faster, she could hardly keep up.  
  
  
  
'And he's the one who didn't want to do this in the first place! Maybe I shouldn't have tried to do this.' That thought would cost her, for she didn't see the beam of energy speeding toward her. It whizzed past her leg, tearing the red cloth and burning the skin there. Her leg momentarily fell out, and she went on one knee on the ground, a ki blast Piccolo fired headed for her face.  
  
  
  
Piccolo saw her fall and saw the blast aimed right between her eyes. He panicked and couldn't stop it, so he ran to help her. Colleen knew it was too late to dodge it, especially with her leg hurt. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her energy to either deflect it or destroy it.  
  
  
  
Piccolo tried to stop the blast, but halted in his tracks at when he saw Colleen's eyes open. Her eyes were glowing red, like his could. The ki ball slowed down and stopped an inch from her face. Then.....it blew up. Somehow she had destroyed it using her energy. But she wasn't that powerful yet. Was she?  
  
  
  
"Colleen, are you all right?" Piccolo ran to her side and knelt beside her.  
  
  
  
"Yea, I'm fine. Not broken, just shaken." She tried to stand up, but fell back to the ground as a wave of pain coming from her leg was made present to her. She looked down at her leg. It wasn't bleeding, but it was burned, and was starting to blister. 'Ew.'  
  
  
  
Piccolo bent over and touched the scorched flesh on her leg. "OW!"  
  
  
  
"I told you you'd get hurt. No more using ki except to fly until you're ready." Piccolo picked her up and let her lean on his chest, since she couldn't reach his shoulder, and started to walk to a spring near a cave.  
  
  
  
"I just lost concentration for a second. I know I could do it, if I concentrated harder." Colleen mentally kicked herself. How could she lose her concentration? Piccolo probably thought she was a little weakling now.  
  
"No. You said if you got hurt, we go back to basic training. And that's what we're doing. Sit down here." He led her to a medium sized rock near the bank of the spring. He took his shirt off and ripped it in two.  
  
  
  
Colleen looked down as he dipped one half of his shirt into the water. "I disappointed you, didn't I?"  
  
  
  
Piccolo looked up and saw her looking down in shame. He sighed. He started to dab the wet cloth on the burn mark.  
  
  
  
"I'm not disappointed. Actually, I didn't think you'd do that good. Not even I learned this fast." He wrapped the dry half of his shirt around her leg as a bandage. The purple stood out in contrast to the red of her gi pants.  
  
  
  
"Really? Wow." She was learning faster than Piccolo? That didn't make sense. 'Well, it sort of does.' She thought. 'People from the 'real world' created this one. It would be normal for us to be more powerful and to learn faster than them. That's probably why Kami wanted me locked up.'  
  
  
  
Piccolo saw her in thought. Thoughts of his own were going through his mind. But they were not as to why she was so powerful, they were to why he felt he needed to protect this little creature. 'Why do I care? I've never cared about anything except to defeat Son Goku and to be the ruler of the Earth as my father wished. How did she do this to me?' With all of this running through his mind, he wondered if his caring for her had something to do with a power she possessed.  
  
  
  
"Tell me Colleen, what kind of powers do people in your dimension have?'  
  
  
  
The question took her by surprise. "Powers? My people have no powers. Some claim to be psychic, or to speak to the dead, or see into the future using cards, but 99% of the time, it's fake. Why do you ask?"  
  
  
  
"If your people have no powers, how can you?" This was getting confusing.  
  
  
  
"Well....ah...." Should she tell him? Tell him about the 'real world' and how he was a cartoon character? Did he even know what a cartoon character was?  
  
  
  
"Yes?"  
  
  
  
"*sigh* This is going to take a while. Well, I'm from what we call the Real World."  
  
  
  
"Real World? What's that supposed to mean? This world is real." What was she talking about?  
  
  
  
"Actually.......it's sorta, kinda...well, not." Man, this was hard!  
  
  
  
Piccolo quirked an eyeridge at her. "OK, OK, let's see. How can I explain this?" How indeed. 'Do what Vegeta does.' She told herself. 'Be blunt. Very blunt.'  
  
  
  
"In the Real World, different dimensions like this one are made up from the people in my world's minds. The way the are given life is to be written down, or drawn. You, Kami, Goku, and everyone else in this world and this world is a cartoon in my world. Do you know what a cartoon is?"  
  
  
  
"No."  
  
  
  
"A cartoon is a drawing on paper. You get a bunch of drawings and move them very fast so it seems as though the character on the paper is moving. The drawings are nothing more than ink, and some computer animation. In my world, you're nothing but a drawing. You aren't real." She saw his face look so confused, and lost. She felt so guilty. She had just shattered his world, basically told him his life was nothing. She wanted to crawl and hide under a rock.  
  
  
  
"I...don't....." Piccolo was so confused, his head was spinning. He didn't exist? 'Well, this explains why she knew my name the first time she saw me. And why she isn't really afraid of me. And how she is so powerful. This is all so.....much.'  
  
  
  
"Piccolo, are you going to be all right? Piccolo?" He looked distraught. 'I never should have told him!' She lowered her head into her hands. 'How could I have been so stupid?!'  
  
  
  
"Colleen?"  
  
  
  
She looked up at Piccolo. "Yes?" Maybe he was OK.  
  
  
  
"If I'm not real..why do you treat me like I am? Why do you care about me?" It didn't make sense to him. If he was a drawing, why should she care?  
  
  
  
This question Colleen could answer instantly. She looked into his onyx eyes. "Because you're *real* to me. You have a heart, you can feel things, you can talk and move. You are a real person to me, and you _are_ my friend. I mean every word." And she did. She loved him like a person for a long time. Some people in her world said it was strange, but she didn't care. She cared about him, and if that was wrong, she didn't want to be right.  
  
  
  
What she said made Piccolo feel a little better about him being nothing but a figment of someone's imagination. At least she saw him as real, even if no one else in her world felt he was. It was still pretty hard to swallow, but he figured the rest of the day in training would fix that.  
  
  
  
"Let's get back to training." He said. "You should be able to use your leg."  
  
  
  
He helped her up, and it was at this moment, when they were at full height, that she fully realized he had no shirt on. She was just the perfect height to admire his broad, toned chest. She blushed and the only coherent thought that would run through her brain was: 'Humina, humina!' Oh, yes, life was good to her.  
  
  
  
They both walked back to the clearing and Piccolo, again, began to work with Colleen on fighting moves. Though this time, he started to teach her defense. This was not fun for her. She got poked, hit, smacked, kicked, scraped, cut, bruised, and any other word you can think of for pain would apply here. She blocked, a few punches and kicks, *a few*. But, she couldn't say she didn't enjoy it. Neither could Piccolo. Then again, he wasn't the one getting hit, now was he?  
  
  
  
They sparred from noon until the sun went down and the only light was coming from the full moon and the stars. 'Sure hope Goku doesn't have his tail.' Colleen thought. Piccolo had called it quits about 15 minutes ago, and Colleen was on the ground while Piccolo meditated, without a shirt mind you. Normally she'd take the view fully, but she couldn't get up to look up. She was sore all over, especially where she'd gotten burned on her leg. It still had the purple cloth wrapped around it, keeping infection out.  
  
  
  
Piccolo opened his eyes and stared at the 5ft. 6in. girl fanned out on the cold dark ground. She'd stayed like that for a while. He was surprised she was conscious after the day of intense training they did. Well, she did. This was a slow day for him. Then again, she started today, and he'd been training twenty times as hard since he was at least 4 years old. How old was she any ways? She didn't look much younger than him. He looked to the sky.  
  
  
  
"It's getting late." He said, loud enough so Colleen could hear. "We should turn in for the night."  
  
  
  
"Uh-huh." She didn't move.  
  
  
  
"Well, get up."  
  
  
  
"Uh-huh." Still stiff as a board.  
  
  
  
"Colleen, is my skin orange?"  
  
  
  
"Uh-huh." Piccolo couldn't help but chuckle. 'She's conscious. Coherent, that's another story.'  
  
  
  
He walked over to her and looked at her blank face, now looking pale in the moonlight. Her eyes were shining, though. They always had a mirror type look to them.  
  
  
  
"You should get up." He said. "It's getting cold. You could get sick."  
  
  
  
"Can't....move...too...sore."  
  
  
  
"Colleen, get up. This isn't funny." Piccolo was starting to get annoyed.  
  
  
  
She tried to get up, she lifted her head up, then plopped it back down. "Owie."  
  
  
  
Piccolo sighed. He bent down and put one arm under her shoulders the other under her knees, and lifted her up in one swift motion. She lifted her head to rest on his chest and her 'scrunchie' fell from her long chess nut brown hail, letting it hand. Piccolo walked back to where the bon fire he recently lit was and sat down with his back to a giant redwood. He was going to put Colleen down to sleep next to him, but she'd already fallen asleep and stirred whenever he tried to put her down onto the ground. She yawned and snuggled closer to his bare chest. "Hmmm, warm." She mumbled. He materialized a white blanked around them and laid his head back against the bark. And they stayed like that all night, Colleen wrapped safely in Piccolo's arms, her head resting upon his heart.  
  
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That's the end to chapter 6. I know I made Piccolo OOC, but he's only that way around me. He's nice and mean around other people. Review please!! I crave it. You always read how authors say reviews are like a drug, and they are! Just, they aren't bad for you like drugs. Oi, it's late and I'm tired. Ja-ne! 


	7. The Plot Begins to Unfold

Disclaimer: Believe what you want, I still don't own it and don't have nearly enough money to buy it. I do own, however, my OC's, Namaro, Lady Siortine and any other people made up in my head.  
  
A/N: Hi peoples. In this chapter there are more characters added into the plot. It's not just me and Piccy anymore, sadly enough. But hey, it needs it. WARNING: Just a little Yamcha bashing. Nothing major, but it might offend some Yamcha fans. Don't know why. Piccolo gets bashed plenty, you don't see us Piccolo fans going crazy over it do you? .......OK, that's not completely true, but don't flame me for it. Cause I won't care no matter how much you swear at me.  
  
{}= telepathy  
  
On to the chapter....  
  
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It had been roughly two months since Colleen and Piccolo had first crossed paths. They trained everyday, and everyday Colleen fell more and more in love with the tall, handsome teenage warrior. She'd grown more powerful and faster with each blow Piccolo landed to her. He had finally convinced her to cut her hair, from being down to the middle of her back to just below her shoulders. Colleen still had the rip in her gi pants, and a scar on her left thigh from the burn. She didn't mind though. When she went home, if she went home, she would have it to remind her of the time she and Piccolo shared.  
  
  
  
  
  
Now Colleen was walking through the densely wooded forest surrounding the clearing she and Piccolo had set up camp, heading for the small stream she had found searching for food a few weeks ago. She passed a huge fallen, rotting tree log; a sign she was close. When she first found it, she had been scared silly by a snake that nipped at her heal hidden inside the log.  
  
  
  
She came up to a beautiful little stream, filled with small pebbles and a fish here and there. She knelt down in front of the water on its banks and dipped her hands in the clear liquid and splashed it on her face. It was cold and refreshing, just what she needed after a hot day of training. 'But the day is only half done.' She told herself. She let out a sigh and splashed more water on her face washing the crimson blood from her mouth. Piccolo had socked her pretty good when she wasn't looking. She'd get him for that later.  
  
  
  
She took her now shorter, but still not short, hair out of the cloth she stole from Piccolo's cape and let if fall. She combed her finger though her hair, feeling the dirt there.  
  
"What I wouldn't give for some shampoo and conditioner." She hadn't really washed her hair in a while. Piccolo had shone her some plants that could clean her off, but it didn't stand up to PantinePro-V.  
  
  
  
Piccolo was meditating near the cave in the clearing, alone. He looked totally peaceful and calm, but inside he was far from it. He had been feeling a dark presence for a while now. Normally he wouldn't be bothered, but this presence was different; off somehow. He knew dark power, and this was not *just* dark power. There was something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He hadn't told Colleen because he didn't want to worry her. She had enough to deal with, with training and thinking about going home.  
  
  
  
He sighed. He didn't really want her to go home. She was the first, and probably only person he had become friends with. He'd done what he thought he could never do; become attached. And to a human female. He would never admit it, but he liked having her around to train, and talk, and have.....fun.  
  
He huffed. 'Stupid emotions. Useless.'  
  
  
  
Colleen was bent over the water, head in the water, washing her hair. She scrubbed the somewhat soapy concoction she made from plants in her hair. When the 'shampoo' was completely washed from her brown wet locks she flung her head up, spraying water behind her. She shook her head from side to side, getting small beads of water on the leaves of plants and petals of flowers near her. She pulled her hair up and tried to get it into a pony- tail.  
  
"A brush wouldn't hurt either." She said.  
  
  
  
She got her hair to stay in one place when a massive shock-wave knocked her over into the water on her back. Most of the leaves of the trees surrounding her were blown off.  
  
  
  
"What the hell was that?" she wondered. She got up out of the creek, now soaked, and headed toward the camp, the origin of the energy surge. She powered up slightly and was completely dry in a millisecond. She walked into the clearing to see Piccolo fighting two blurs.  
  
'The wave of energy must've been Piccolo.' She thought.  
  
  
  
One of the blurs got knocked out of the fight and came crashing down to earth with a five foot crater left from the landing. Colleen walked over to the hole and peered in.  
  
"Yamcha?" The long-haired young man looked up at the 13-year-old and started to get up, getting an interesting gleam in his eye.  
  
"You shouldn't be here, sweatie. That big green monster might hurt you. Why don't you let me carry you in my big strong arms?" He started to advance forward in her direction. Colleen got what he meant and immediately held her hand in front of herself two inches from Yamcha's chest.  
  
"You touch, you get concussion. Kapeesh?" she stated flatly.  
  
"But babe, you're just a little girl, I don't want a pretty little thing like you to get all hurt. I would hate it if that body of yours were to be bruised." He licked his lips.  
  
'Eww, he's hitting on me!' Colleen thought. 'Aren't he and Bulma still going out?' "Please, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." She said. She walked closer to the fight between Piccolo and what could only be Goku. She went right next to them; her on the ground, them in the air.  
  
"Piccolo, Goku, stop it now!" she yelled. No response from either but them punching each other in the face at the same time. After shaking it off, they went at it again, kicking and punching.  
  
"Piccolo, Goku, STOP!" Still nothing. Piccolo kneed Goku in the stomach and lifted his hands together in one fist and brought it down on Goku's back, sending him to the ground. But before he hit, he stopped himself and lunged at Piccolo again, kicking him in the head.  
  
'This is getting aggravating.' She thought. She lifted into the air, arms crossed, feet together between them when they knocked each other apart.  
  
"Guys stop!!" They charged at each other again as if she weren't even there. She unfolded her arms and pointed one at each man.  
  
"I said STOP!!!" She fired a ki beam at both Piccolo and Goku, sending them both flying into trees backwards. When they got up and into the air again they were staring at her. One with shock and anger, one with just shock.  
  
"Thank you." She stated simply. "Now you boys want to tell me what brought this battle about?"  
  
"Colleen! Get out of here! You're interrupting us!" Piccolo yelled. He looked at her sternly. He was just about to kill Goku and she stopped him!  
  
"Um, miss," Goku started. "I don't think you know who this guy is. He's Piccolo, you know the evil guy. I'm a good guy. I'm here to beat him. I think it'd be safer for you to leave and let me finish my fight with him."  
  
  
  
'Sweet, naïve Goku.' Colleen thought. "I can't let you hurt him." She said to Goku. She turned to Piccolo. "And I can't let you hurt him, either." She said pointing to a confused looking Goku.  
  
"Colleen, this is Goku! The man I told you I was fighting in the Tournament!"  
  
"Funny, I don't see a ring, referee, or crowd. It doesn't look like the Word Martial Arts Tournament to me."  
  
  
  
Her sarcasm was none to amusing to Piccolo. "Go...now!"  
  
She stuck out her tongue. "Make me!"  
  
Goku and Yamcha looked at her like she was stark-raving mad. "Uh, miss, Colleen was it? I don't think you should talk to Piccolo like that." Goku said.  
  
"Oh, why ever not. What's he going to do about it?" she asked more to Piccolo than Goku.  
  
'This girl's nuttier than Master Roshi!' Yamcha thought.  
  
"Well, because he's powerful and he could probably rip you in two." Goku said matter-of-factly.  
  
"I'd listen to him if I were you." Piccolo warned. She was getting on his last nerve, Goku already seeming to be doing jumping-jacks on all the others.  
  
"Dear, dear Piccy-chan," she started.  
  
'PICCY-CHAN???!!!' both Yamcha and Goku screamed in their heads.  
  
"It isn't the tournament yet, so cool your jets." Colleen finished.  
  
She faced Yamcha and Goku. "You two, too. Now what started this?"  
  
"We saw Piccolo and started fighting with him." Goku stated.  
  
"He was meditating so we thought we could surprise him." Yamcha said.  
  
"That's it? He wasn't doing *anything*?" Colleen asked.  
  
"Um, nope." Goku answered.  
  
"How do you know Piccolo, anyhow?" Yamcha questioned.  
  
"I'm training her." Piccolo said flatly. He folded his arms and flew behind her, now knowing they would probably want to fight her too.  
  
"So that means you're evil." Goku said, his face turning from the innocent face to the fighting face.  
  
"No. Why does training with Piccolo make me evil?" She knew the answer, but had to ask any ways.  
  
"How can we believe you?" Yamcha asked harshly.  
  
She looked at Goku and automatically knew exactly how to convince him.  
  
"Point me near a kitchen and I can cook anything for you guys." This had to work.  
  
  
  
Piccolo looked at her and quirked an eyeridge. Did she really think that'd work? Not even Goku would believe that.  
  
Goku flew up to her, game face still on. Piccolo tensed getting ready to protect her if need be. Goku looked at her and turned to Yamcha. He said very, very seriously, "She can cook, we can trust her."  
  
'Well I'll be damned.' Piccolo thought.  
  
Yamcha sweat-dropped. If Goku said she was all right, she should be. He knew Goku believed her not just because of food. Right?  
  
It took all Colleen had not to burst out laughing. She knew it'd work. The only way to get Goku to believe her so fast was to mention anything about food. 'I am a genius.' She thought to herself.  
  
"Hey, so uh, could you cook for us now?" Goku asked with his hand behind his head, famous Son grin set into full play.  
  
"*chuckle* Sure. Lead the way."  
  
"I'm coming as well." Piccolo said. He didn't want her alone with Goku. He knew he wouldn't hurt her, he just didn't like the idea of her being with him alone.  
  
"Then I'm watching you." Yamcha came up behind Piccolo. Piccolo turned around and got right up into Yamcha's face, with a snarl on his own. Yamcha gulped.  
  
"BOO!" Piccolo shouted. Yamcha screamed like a little girl, more than any girl could, and nearly fell out of the sky. Piccolo chuckled. How he loved scaring the crap out of people.  
  
  
  
Piccolo, Colleen, Goku, and a skittish Yamcha flew to the closest kitchen Goku knew of; ChiChi's. They all flew in silence, Goku passing glances back at Piccolo every so often.  
  
{He doesn't trust me.} Colleen was very surprised to hear Piccolo's voice in her head, but soon caught on he didn't want to talk so Goku and Yamcha could hear.  
  
{He doesn't know you like I know you.}  
  
{But I'm still evil. I don't know why I agreed to this.}  
  
{You are not evil.} Piccolo looked over to Colleen who had a stern look on her face.  
  
{Why do you keep saying that? It's as if you actually believe it.}  
  
{I do believe it. You aren't evil, just....lost. Anyone who can make friends can't be all bad.} Colleen smiled.  
  
{Hn.}  
  
"We're here!" Goku announced. They group flew down in front of the small castle that Princess ChiChi and the Ox King lived in. They landed on the front lawn and Goku went up to the door and knocked.  
  
"Coming!" came a female voice from beyond the door. A young girl with long, braided raven black hair opened the door. She was wearing a purple dress down to mid-thigh with small slits on either side, and embroidered in green beads to make a dragon slither up her dress. She was wearing black knee-high boots that laced at the top, and purple wrist guards of cloth.  
  
"Hi ChiChi! I came over to get one of my friends to cook for me. Is that all right? This was the closest kitchen I could think of." Goku said sweetly.  
  
"Of course, Goku. Who's your friend?" She looked behind Goku's shoulder to see Yamcha, a brown-haired blue-eyed girl in a red gi, and Piccolo.  
  
"PICCOLO????!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" She pointed at the tall green man and promptly fainted, still pointing. Piccolo sighed. He was expecting that. He'd met ChiChi before. He heard a noise and looked to his right. Colleen was giggling and snickering trying so hard not to laugh at Goku trying to revive ChiChi on the ground. She started to stir and Goku got her to sit up.  
  
"Oh, Goku, I had a horrible dream." She looked up to see her dream wasn't a dream at all. "AAAHHH!!!"  
  
"Now, Chi, don't be afraid.." Goku tried to calm her.  
  
"THAT....THAT.....*THING* IS _NOT_ COMING IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!" She screamed. Piccolo was clutching his ears and was slightly hunched over from the pain of her screeching. When Goku got her to stop, his, and everyone else's ears were ringing. ChiChi finally agreed to let him and Colleen come in, only because Colleen promised to keep him away from her and the kid she was baby-sitting. She was watching her little cousin, Namaro. He was a cute little guy with black hair and was wrapped in a dark blue footie-pajama type outfit and a dark blue baby hat on his head.  
  
"The kitchen is this way." ChiChi lead them down a hall to an enormous kitchen with every appliance anyone would ever need, a huge fridge and stove, and two large pantries.  
  
Colleen got to work on all the foods she knew how to cook. Chili, spaghetti, pirogue, lasagna, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, all kinds of soup, ribs, steak, fish, fried shrimp, mashed potatoes, gravy, cheese potatoes, omelets, bacon, toast, bread, muffins, pies, fried rice, stir fry, and everything underneath the sun, or all Goku could eat by himself. The little Namaro just looked on half interested, really looking at the big green guy with pointed ears.  
  
  
  
Goku and Yamcha's mouths started to water with all of the delicious smells. The smells got to the baby too, and he realized he was hungry. His face started to scrunch and his eyes began to water. Piccolo was the first to notice this he was about to say something when......  
  
"WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" The screaming could be heard from Mars. Piccolo grabbed his ears and fell on the floor seeing spots. Colleen rushed to his side and tried to help him up. ChiChi went to Namaro and picked him up, but he still didn't stop crying.  
  
"Oh, his bottle is in the grand living room, and I can't leave the stove. Goku will you take him and feed him?" ChiChi asked.  
  
"What?? Hello?? I can't hear!!"  
  
"Yamcha?" ChiChi asked annoyed.  
  
"No sound is coming out of your mouth!" Yamcha yelled and pointed to ChiChi.  
  
"Grrrr, Colleen?"  
  
"Yea, sure. Can Pic come too, I don't think I should leave him alone with Goku."  
  
ChiChi glared at her. "And what of our agreement?"  
  
"He won't hold Namaro. Do you want those two muscle heads in the same room alone?" Colleen questioned looking at Piccolo then Goku.  
  
ChiChi thought about it. "Good point. Ok. But freak-boy goes no where near the baby!!" She handed Namaro to Colleen and she, the baby, and a temporarily deaf Piccolo went to the bottle in the living room.  
  
When they got there Colleen gave the little bag of lungs his bottle and Piccolo sat on the couch, rubbing his ears.  
  
"For something so small, it sure makes a lot of sound." He said.  
  
"Yep. Babies are loud. But they're cute."  
  
"Sure they are." Piccolo answered sarcastically.  
  
Colleen sat on the couch with the baby next to Piccolo. He sucked hungrily on the bottle and made gulping and breathing noises. When he was done, Colleen lifted him so his head rested on her shoulder and she burped him. She set Namaro on her lap and he started to coo and laugh when she made funny faces.  
  
"You're good with kids." Piccolo stated.  
  
"I've had lot's of practice with my little brother and sister and cousins. I'm the oldest in my family. Well, I have a cousin who's like two moths older, but aside from her, I'm oldest." She was bouncing him on her knee.  
  
Colleen's next question took Piccolo by surprise. "You ever thought about having kids?"  
  
"Haha, no. Picture me with a little kid. Not a good combination. And children get in the way."  
  
"Yea, sometimes. But that's what life's all about. Growing up, finding love, getting married, and having a family. You've never thought of that? Ever?"  
  
"Love is not something I would know, or probably allowed to know. I can't have it, so I don't think about it." Piccolo stared at the wall in front of him, not wanting to look Colleen in the eye.  
  
"Everyone is allowed to experience love. Even people who are bad can love, which you are not. I think you'd make a great dad." Colleen said smiling. He did seem like a great father figure.  
  
"Sure I would."  
  
"You wanna hold him?" Piccolo looked down at Colleen and Namaro. The little wind bag was kinda cute, he guessed.  
  
"....Ok." He hesitated. Colleen handed Namaro to Piccolo. Piccolo picked him up with his big green hands uncertainly. He held the little boy out by his under arms, and his shoulders were up to his ears.  
  
"You have to hold him like this." Colleen said. She put one of Piccolo's hands around the bottom of his little tushie, and the other behind his head. She eased Piccolo's hands to his chest to cradle Namaro. Piccolo looked down at the little life in his hands, and Namaro looked up at the green face, and hanging antennae. His chubby little fingers went up to flick and play with Piccolo's antennae, giggling. This was weird to Piccolo, but not really a bad weird.  
  
"He likes you." Colleen said. She looked at the sight before her and smiled. 'Where's a camera when you need one?' Piccolo looked so sweet, he was smiling and let Namaro play with his finger. Namaro gurgled and started to pull on his nose.  
  
"Colleen?" came ChiChi's voice from down the hall.  
  
"Uh-oh. You better hand him back. ChiChi will have a conniption fit if she sees you holding him. Come here big guy." Colleen took Namaro from Piccolo's hands as ChiChi walked into the room. She took Namaro from Colleen, huffed at Piccolo, and left the room. Goku and Yamcha came in soon after she left.  
  
"Man, that was great!" Goku beamed patting his stomach. He has some sauce and who knows what else on his shirt.  
  
"Yea, where'd you learn to cook like that? My girlfriend should hire you as a cook. She owns Capsule Corp. you know." Yamcha said.  
  
"Colleen is not a servant. She's my student and we're going. Come on." Piccolo got off the couch and headed for the door. Colleen waved and followed Piccolo out the door and they both took off into the sky.  
  
The flight back to the camp was a quiet one. A comfortable silence between them stayed until they touched down in the clearing. Once there they commenced to spar until an hour or so after sunset. They stopped for the night and just sat by the campfire opposite from each other, staring at the flames. Piccolo looked over to Colleen. The light from the fire was dancing on her face and in her blue eyes. It was then he felt a funny warm feeling spread over him. She looked different. Well, not really different, she looked the same. But she looked......... 'Pretty.' He thought.  
  
'Then again, I don't really know what exactly 'pretty' is. But, she is.' He kept staring at her trying to figure out this new feeling.  
  
Colleen felt eyes on her and looked up to see Piccolo staring at her. "What?" she asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just......never mind." He answered.  
  
"Ok." They both looked down at the fire again. Colleen glanced up and noticed the shadows from the fire light on Piccolo's face.  
  
  
  
'Why does he have to be so darn hot?' she thought to herself. She got up and walked to her make-shift bed which was only Piccolo's cape. He didn't wear it much now that they trained nearly 24/7.  
  
  
  
Piccolo got up as well and walked over to his spot by Colleen, just a tree trunk to lean on. He mostly slept sitting up in his lotus position.  
  
"Night, Pic." Colleen yawned.  
  
"Good night." Piccolo took one last look at her face, her eyes closed, and closed his eyes and fell asleep.  
  
  
  
  
  
A dark figure in the trees turned around and leapt through the forest from the clearing Piccolo and Colleen were in. It dashed through the wood like a deer, but faster. When the figure came to a disfigured tree, it pressed a notch in the trunk and a black portal opened. It stepped inside to be transported to a dark room full of dimly lit candles. At the end of the room was a large black throne where a woman with fire-red hair and a long silk, black, sleeveless dress was seated. Her eyes were cold and gray with no pupils, her skin pale, and four small purple horns jutted from the top of each eye above her red eyebrows. She had fangs and blood red lips. On her neck she wore a ruby pendant in the shape of a crescent moon held by a short golden chain.  
  
"Did you find them?" she asked.  
  
"Yes Lady Siortine (1). I have spies watching the girl and demon day and night." The figure responded in a double-sounded voice, both high and low tones.  
  
"Excellent." The devious beauty smirked showing a fang, rose a hand and waved it across the air. A foggy picture appeared. In the image was Colleen and Piccolo sleeping near the fire.  
  
"Soon." Lady Siortine said evilly. "Soon."  
  
  
  
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(1)= Siortine is Gaelic for "Eternal fire." Pronounced 'She-ur-chin-na'.  
  
  
  
Oooh, I'm adding more plot! Do you like? Again, sorry for the slight Yamcha bashing, I tried to make it as subtle as possible. I just don't like the guy. I hope I got Goku, ChiChi, and Yamcha's characters right. Tell me if I didn't.  
  
  
  
REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Keep going......  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
THERE! 


	8. You think of something, this is difficul...

Disclaimer: I don't own DB, DBZ, DBGT, I don't even own the house I live in, so leave me alone. I do own, however, any people coming out of my deranged head.  
  
A/N: Hi there. Sorry it took me such a long time to get this chapter out. As stated on my bio, I kinda got myself kicked off the computer for a while. It's resolved now, but I only get 1 hour of computer time a day, IF I get up well in the morning. My first thought after my mother told me this was, 'Oh crap, I'm never going on the computer again!' I'm not a morning person. My friends will tell you. At sleep-overs I'm known to nip at people's hands if they try to wake me. But, here I am. Hopefully an hour will be enough to get this thing done. All right, rambling over now.  
  
### = dream sequence All dream sequence is in first person.  
  
= time warp  
  
~*~* = scene change ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
It was cold. Nope, it was *freaking* cold! It was only about a month until World Martial Arts Tournament. Piccolo had decided that it'd be better to train in harsher environments to build both his, and Colleen's strength. At first, Colleen thought it was a good idea. Then they got to their destination. They were in a secluded mountain range uninhabited by people. It was cold, snowing, and Colleen hated it.  
  
  
  
"Special Beam Cannon!" Colleen yelled and aimed her two fingers at Piccolo. Nothing came out but a small spark of energy and light.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Piccolo asked.  
  
"H-hey, you t-t-try f-fighting in th-this k-k-kind of whe-whether." Colleen said shivering violently.  
  
"I am fighting in this kind of whether."  
  
"Y-yea, w-well you'r-re n-not hu-hu-human!" Colleen's face was red and she swore there was an icicle forming on her nose.  
  
"Colleen, this harsh whether will help you become more focused. It will help you in the long run." Piccolo said, flying up to her meeting her eyes.  
  
"Help m-me?! This is bull sh-sh-sh-"  
  
"*sigh* You'll have to become immune to the cold, heat, and anything else Mother Nature can throw at you. An opponent will use your weaknesses against you. Suck it up, or are you a little wimp?" Piccolo said.  
  
"By all means, b-bring on the w-wimpiness!! I'm c-c-cold and I'm-m going b- back in th-the c-cave where they're is h-heat!" She was shaking even more now, and started to descend to the ground when Piccolo's hand grabbed her arm and stopped her.  
  
"You haven't done your 500 sit-ups and push-ups for the day." He said smiling sweetly.  
  
"I h-hate you." Colleen said frowning.  
  
  
  
They went to the ground and Colleen shakily started doing sit-ups. Once all 500 had been completed, she started on the push-ups. She didn't get so far on those, only about 50 and she dropped to the ground, not even caring about the cold snow underneath, for she couldn't really feel it anyway.  
  
"Get up. You aren't finished." Piccolo said.  
  
"I c-can't feel my arms. Can I p-please go back in the c-cave now?" Colleen asked looking up at Piccolo, almost crying.  
  
Piccolo looked at her red face, and her watery eyes. 'I guess we should stop. She'll probably get frostbite, if she hasn't gotten it already.'  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Th-thank you P-p-pic-c-col-lo." She got up and ran to the cave they had set up their new camp in. It only consisted of rocks, a fur bed for Colleen, and a fire pit. It was dark and none to welcoming, but to Colleen, it looked like heaven. It was dreary, but warm. Well, warmer than outside.  
  
  
  
Colleen sat down on her fur bed and covered herself with a bear skin. Don't ask how she got it, it wasn't pretty. She pulled the skin up to her chin and scooted closer to the fire warming her numb hands.  
  
"The fire's getting low," Piccolo said. "I get some firewood. Stay here."  
  
Colleen chuckled, shaking. "I'm n-not going anywh-where."  
  
  
  
Piccolo went outside and started to fly away from the cave. The nearest tree was miles away, a drawback he only realized after they had come, remembering Colleen was human, and affected by cold. At the time, he'd forgotten she couldn't go barefoot in the snow like he could. He rarely got cold, and when he did, he just used his ki to warm himself. Colleen had tried it, but couldn't sustain it for as long as she needed to stay warm, and spar with him.  
  
  
  
The wind started to pick up, so much so Piccolo had a hard time fighting it. 'Blizzard.' He thought. 'The wind's to strong. Flying is out.' He slowly descended to the ground. 'I'll have to travel the rest of the way on foot. I hope the fire back in the cave lasts.'  
  
  
  
He moved over rock formations and cliffs, and finally came upon a lone pine. He cut it down with his laser eyes and chopped it into kindling. He took a fair sized bundle with him and headed back to the cave and Colleen. The wind let up a little after an hour or so, so he flew the rest of the way back. When he landed outside the fire had indeed died, how long ago, he hoped wasn't very long. If it died soon after he left, that would mean Colleen was sitting in the cold for two hours now. He walked inside to see Colleen still huddled under her skin, but she was shivering even harder and her cheeks were much redder than when he left. Her breathing was heavy also.  
  
"Colleen, you ok?" He asked as he set the pile of wood in the fire pit and lit it with his ki. A nice little blaze started immediately.  
  
"No." she answered weekly. Piccolo went up to her and put his hand on her forehead.  
  
'She's burning up. It's got to be over 100('.  
  
"Colleen, when did the fire go out."  
  
"Uh, about, ah, a few minutes after you left." She said and coughed.  
  
"Oh, man. You're definitely sick. You need to try and get some sleep." Piccolo said concern in his voice.  
  
"I can't, I'm so cold, and my head hurts, and I'm dizzy. It hurts so bad." A small tear ran down her cheek and she coughed again. Her head was spinning and throbbing and felt as large as a watermelon. She couldn't feel her finger or toe tips anymore. Her vision was blurry and it was very hard to breath. Her mind was so out of it she didn't even feel Piccolo pick her up and place her closer to the fire. She only registered there was heat in front of her.  
  
  
  
Piccolo placed Colleen down in front of the fire and sat behind her holding her up. She was too weak to sit on her own. She was still shivering and breathing heavily.  
  
"This is all my fault." He said.  
  
"I t-told you I wasn't m-made for this." Colleen wheezed.  
  
"Forgot how fragile you are." Piccolo said smiling.  
  
"Fragile? Who you c-calling fragile? I'm not fragile, just freezing my ass off!" She chuckled then coughed some more.  
  
"I don't think I've met anyone who swears as much as you besides me." Piccolo said. He started to rub her arms so she could feel them again.  
  
"Hehe, you sound like my father." She replied tiredness in her voice.  
  
"You miss him?"  
  
"Yea, sometimes. Hm, if I ever get home and you two have a chance to meet, I'll have to hide his gun." She started to giggle.  
  
"Because I'm a giant green monster." He said flatly.  
  
"No, because you're a teenage boy who's spending too much time with his little girl. Don't feel special, he'd do that to any teenage boy who he doesn't know who spends time with me. Even guys he does know." Colleen was slowly nodding off. Her head would droop and her eyes felt very heavy.  
  
  
  
It wasn't long before Colleen fell asleep. Piccolo just stayed with her in his lap. She needed the sleep, he told himself. So he just closed his eyes to meditate. But, he hadn't slept in a while either. Meditation soon gave way to slumber.  
  
  
  
  
  
#################  
  
It was dark and cold. I can actually feel the cold. Looking around, I'm in the middle of a forest. My forest. No moon, no stars, nothing to light the night. Wait, where's Colleen?  
  
"Colleen? Where are you?" I yell.  
  
"Shhhh!!" Colleen comes out from behind a giant tree root and grabs my arm. I must have jumped five feet in the air. She scared the crap out of me!  
  
"Get down!" She whispered harshly and pulled me down to the ground level. "Don't you know they'll hear you?"  
  
"Who'll hear me?" What's going on? Colleen looks so nervous.  
  
"You know...them." Ok, getting creeped out now.  
  
"Them?" This is so puzzling. What's after us? Goku can't scare her like this, she knows she's stronger than that.  
  
  
  
A stick breaks somewhere in the distance, and Colleen grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls my face into the dirt. I look over to her and she's covering her head with her hands and breathing hard. Footsteps. The sound of footsteps looms right over us. My heart starts to pound. I have no freaking' clue what we're so scared of, but whatever it is, it can't be too nice.  
  
  
  
Whatever is after us seems to be on top of us. I can hear Colleen's heart beat faster and harder and I know she's trying not to breath for fear of us getting caught by, whatever the heck this thing is. The footsteps start to sound farther and farther away. Thank Kami, and I use that term loosely. Colleen and I both stick out our heads just enough so I eyes can be seen, and nothing but black is out there. Whatever was there is gone now.  
  
"Thank Kami." Colleen whispers. She gets up and turns around. I start to get up when I see something flicker out in the woods. Like a mirage. Then I hear Colleen scream like bloody murder. I don't have much time to contemplate what she's shrilling towards, because she grabs my hand and we start to run like the Devil.  
  
  
  
We run, and run, and run some more. From what, got me. But if Colleen screams like that, I don't think I want to know. But do I ever get any say in my life? No.  
  
  
  
Colleen and I are knocked down by some powerful force. I look up only to see some sort of shadow in front of me. It jumps me, and I feel pain when it grabs me in a choke hold. How the heck can a shadow cause pain?! I forces my head to look in the direction of Colleen and another, more powerful shadow. Colleen is fighting her hardest, but it isn't enough. She punches it in the face, but it just blows her into a boulder with it's ki. It grabs a silver dagger with a ruby handle out of it's dark sleeve. Colleen gets up and charges it.  
  
"Colleen, look out!!" I try to break free of the shadow monster, but I can't. I'm not strong enough. This isn't supposed to happen to me, damnit!  
  
  
  
I look up to see Colleen run up to the shadow; she doesn't see the dagger! The shadow stands up abruptly as she comes within striking distance and plunges the dagger in her stomach. Colleen's eyes widen and her mouth opens to scream, but nothing comes out. The shadow roughly jerks the blade out of her and she slumps to the ground. Both of the shadow creatures disappear in thin air.  
  
"Colleen, no!" I run up to her and pick her up in my arms. There's blood everywhere; on her clothes, her body, my clothes, my hands...everywhere. She looks up at me with clouded eyes.  
  
"Pi-ic-c-co-l-lo." She can barely speak. She coughs up more blood. 'This can't be happening!'  
  
"Shh. I'm here. You're going to be ok." I feel something in my eyes. Tears? I'm crying?  
  
She smiles weakly and reaches up a shaky hands to my face."I-I'm s-sor-ry." She whispered. Then her eyes cloud over completely and her hand drops from my face to the ground. I can't feel her ki. No, no, she can't be...  
  
"Colleen. Colleen! Don't die, damnit!!" But I know it's too late. They killed her. THEY KILLED HER!!  
  
"RrrrrrAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"  
  
######################  
  
  
  
Piccolo's eyes open quickly and he takes in a sharp breath. A sheen of sweat covered his face. That had to be a dream, right? He looks down in his lap to see Colleen sleeping facing the fire, using his knee as a pillow.  
  
'She's safe.' He sighs. 'Just a dream. Or could it be a vision? I'm not one to have nightmares for no reason. Something's either coming or it's here. I bet it has something to do with that presence I've been feeling.' He scowls and stares at the fire.  
  
  
  
Colleen shifts position in his lap to where she is lying on her back. Her eyebrows come together in a frown and she mumbles non-coherently. Piccolo looks down to her. Her cheeks are still red with fever, and she's still breathing hard. What is he supposed to do? He's no doctor. He doesn't get sick!  
  
  
  
"I guess I have no choice but to take you to Goku's. Kami, I hate this!" He picks her up with the bear-skin blanket wrapped around her and steps out of the cave. He powers up to keep them both warm and shoots into the sky.  
  
  
  
Unfortunately, the wind hadn't let up from when he came back. In fact, it was worse. Snow was falling hard, and Piccolo couldn't see two feet in front of his face. Luckily his ki was melting the snow before it could touch either him or Colleen. Still, it was no walk, or in this case, flight through the park. The wind was picking up speed and Piccolo had trouble fighting it. Soon he was going backwards, so he had no choice but to drop to the ground. He descended into the trees and started to walk in the direction of Son Goku's home.  
  
Surprisingly enough, it only took about fifteen minutes to get to the little hut Goku was staying in. Piccolo walked up to the door and knocked with his right shoulder because both of his hands were busy carrying Colleen. He got no answer. He knocked again, harder this time. Still, nothing. He took his right hand out from under Colleen's knees and knocked forcefully on the door. All he got in response was a loud snore from Goku.  
  
"Goku, open this door, NOW!!" Piccolo was getting annoyed and angry. Colleen coughed and started to moan louder. "GOKU!!!"  
  
  
  
Still only a loud snore and a light whistling sound flowed from the small one room hut.  
  
"Fine! I'll come in MYSELF!!!" Piccolo raised his hand and blasted down the door. He went into the hut and saw Goku, still sound asleep. His patience had given up and decided to take a vacation.  
  
  
  
He put Colleen down in a chair and walked over to Goku's bed where he was happily snoring away. He put his face up to Goku's ear and .....  
  
"WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"AHHH!!" Goku jumped out of his bed and landed on the opposite side.  
  
"They're here!! Everyone, baton down the hatches, hide the women and children, save the cheeseburgers!!!" He looked up and saw a none to happy giant green man staring at him. "Oh hi Piccolo! What's up?"  
  
"What's up? What's up?! I'll tell you WHAT'S UP!! Colleen's sick and dying and I have no frickin' clue how to help her since DEMONS DON'T GET SICK!!!! HOW ARE YOU???!!!!" Piccolo's eyes were glowing red and anyone in the room would swear they saw a vain pop in his head.  
  
Goku had shrunk in the corner next to his bed looking a little blue. "I-it was only a q-question." He said squeakily.  
  
Piccolo said through clenched teeth, "Goku...Help. Me. Help. Colleen. Now!"  
  
"Ok, ok, sheesh. You don't have to be so grouchy. Now let's see what's wrong with her." He went over to Colleen on the chair and put a hand on her head. His face went very serious.  
  
"She has a very, very high fever. We need to get her to the hospital quickly before her temperature goes too high and kills her."  
  
"Where's a hospital around here? If you haven't noticed, we're out in the middle of nowhere." Piccolo said.  
  
Goku picked Colleen up. "The nearest hospital is too far away. But Bulma should have some pretty good medical supplies at her place."  
  
"That loud-mouthed blue-haired harpy?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Fine."  
  
  
  
They both went out the hole in the wall and flew off towards Capsule Corp. They were still against the wind, but flying was the only way they'd get to the giant building within the time Colleen had. They landed on the front porch and didn't even bother knocking.  
  
"Bulma!!" Goku yelled. They went in and Bulma came down the steps in a pink night gown, her hair a little ruffled from sleeping.  
  
  
  
"Goku, it's 4:00 a.m. in the morning. You had better have a really good-" Then her eyes landed on Piccolo. "Goku...are you aware of the fact that Piccolo is in my living room?"  
  
"Yes, Bulma. Listen, this girl is really REALLY sick. She might die, you have to help her. You do have a medical room here, right?"  
  
"Of course. Follow me." she turned around and led them down the hall to a large room filled with machines with a table in the middle of the room. Piccolo and Goku automatically didn't like the room with the machines, alcohol smell, all the white, and needles. Goku was not a big fan of needles.  
  
"Lay her down on the table." Bulma ordered. Goku complied and laid her on the medical table. "Al right then, let's see what's wrong."  
  
  
  
She put both the boys out of the room to run some tests. They both waited anxiously in the hall, both pacing back and forth until they bumped into each other. Piccolo growled and Goku went back to pacing. Bulma opened the door to the medical lab and both men lined up in front of her.  
  
"Well?" they both said at once.  
  
"Well, she's got pneumonia. Not life threatening, but it's a good thing you got her here when you did. Another couple of hours and she'd be as good as a door nail. Goku, I need your help putting an IV in her. Her ki is preventing my needles from penetrating the skin."  
  
"NEEDLES??!! NO WAY!!!!" Goku yelled. He ran and hid behind a lamp. He looked as though he'd pee his pants.  
  
"Goku, you are such a baby! Ok, Piccolo, come on." She grabbed his arm and led him into the med. lab.  
  
All of the white in the room was a little blinding. Bulma led Piccolo to the bed Colleen was on and went over to a drawer and got out an IV kit. Piccolo looked at Colleen who looked white except for the feverish red tint to her cheeks. She was breathing better, but still not normally.  
  
"Here." Bulma said handing Piccolo a needle with a small plastic tube attached. "All you have to do is stick the needle in that vein in her arm where her elbow joint is. I'll do the rest." And she went back to the counter and started to rummage through some more medical junk.  
  
Piccolo looked at the needle. If she woke up, she wouldn't be a happy camper. And if he stuck the wrong vein, she might bleed to death. AND what if he put it in too hard? Shooting people, cakewalk. This...not so cakie.  
  
'It can't be that hard.' He thought. He took the needle and put it too Colleen's skin. Carefully, and slowly, he started to put the needle in. He met a little resistance from her ki, but just used his to push the needle through the skin.  
  
'That wasn't hard.' He smirked. Then the tube slowly started to fill with blood. This is when he freaked out. And when I say 'freaked out', I mean he went into full-scale-panic mode.  
  
"Bulma! What's happening?!" He yelled at her. He thought about taking the needle out, but that might cause more damage than good with the kind of luck he had.  
  
"What?" Bulma turned around and saw what was the cause of the panic. "That? Please, nothing's wrong, just hold her arm up. I'll attach the bag."  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
"Am I not the smartest woman on Earth? Of course I'm sure! Here, step aside. Men." She went to Colleen and attached the other end of the tube to a longer tube connected to a bag with clear liquid in it. She hung the bag on a little hook above the bed. The liquid started to drip-drop from the bag into the tube.  
  
"All right, out. Not that I don't love you or anything Piccolo, but this is MY lab so, vamoose." She went behind him and pushed him out the door.  
  
"Is it over?" Goku asked behind the lamp.  
  
"Yes Goku, it's over. You two can stay on the couches in the living room if you want. Goku, there's plenty of food in the frige. You're welcome to it, just don't eat me out of house and home." She headed for the stairs. She yawned and waved her hand over her mouth. After she had disappeared from sight, Goku and Piccolo stared at each other and got a very familiar glint in their eyes.  
  
Bulma's head suddenly came up on the intercom/screen behind Goku in the wall. "And if either of you even _attempt_ to fight, I'll make sure neither of you can move anything on your body for a very long, painful time. GOT IT??!!"  
  
"Got it." They both said. Goku did *not* want to upset Bulma. Piccolo didn't really fear her, she had helped Colleen so he'd behave. Though he won't tell, you know he's scared. Any man in his right mind would be.  
  
"Well," Goku said. "I'm going to the kitchen. Take any couch you want." And the happy-go-lucky man hummed happily as he went to binge.  
  
"Baka." Piccolo said. He went around the corner and into the living room. It was pinkish with two pink couches, a pink lazy-boy, a pink shaded lamp on a white table by each couch, a mega-screen TV, and a wooden coffee table with a small pink table cloth on it with the remote resting there. It was all so pink, he almost threw up.  
  
'Oh well, beats being outside. I guess.'  
  
He went over to the larger of the couches in front of the TV and laid down. It was soft, squishy, and very comfortable. He hated it. He grabbed one of the overly soft pillows and a blanked and laid down on the hard wood floor.  
  
'Much better.' He thought. He couldn't wait to go back to the dark, dank, slimy, hard floored, cold, gloomy little cave in the secluded, lonely, freezing cold mountains. As soon as Colleen was better, they'd go back to that little heck hole they called home-sweet-home.  
  
  
  
Goku came back into the living room a few minutes later yawning and rubbing his eyes. He flopped down on the smaller couch by the window, put his hands in a praying position under is head, and started snoring. Very loudly. You couldn't hear a buzz saw over that man's nose. Piccolo covered his face with his hand.  
  
"It's going to be a loooooong night." He rolled onto his side and covered his ears with the pillow and fitfully fell asleep.  
  
Time warp to the next morning  
  
  
  
Colleen slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. It was white and cold with beeping machines around the bed she was in. She bolted upright sending her hair forward around her face.  
  
'I'm in a hospital.' She thought. 'I HATE HOSPITALS!'  
  
She began to freak, pulling all and any needles and wires out and off of her body. All of the machine's beeping stopped. She jumped out of the bed pulling all the sheets off. She was in different clothes. Not her red gi, but a hospital gown. She didn't really want to rip the gown off and be in just her tidy whities.  
  
'Where is Piccolo?' she thought frantically. "Piccolo?" No answer. "Piccolo?!" Still nodda. "PICCOLO!!!!"  
  
  
  
The whole house herd the earth-shattering scream. Goku nearly choked on the pillow he was dreaming was a giant brownie. Bulma screamed and fell out of bed. Piccolo bumped his head on the bottom of the coffee table he mysteriously got under when he tried to bolt up. He rolled over, jumped up and ran to the med. Lab door. He threw it open expecting to see Colleen hurt or covered in blood or something, but she was just trying to keep the gown closed.  
  
"You screeched?" He asked.  
  
"Oh Piccolo!" She went up and hugged his waist. She then retracted and took the collar of his gi in both hands and pulled his head down to her level. "Help me find my clothes and get me out of here!"  
  
She let go and started searching the room for her gi, preferably her pants. Piccolo quirked an eyeridge. "Ok. What's got you so worked up?" He was extremely relieved to see her up and about, and spouting orders. She was back.  
  
"I hate, I mean really, _really_ hate hospitals and everything to do with them! I have to get out of here." She opened cupboards and drawers and threw everything out of them. "Where are my clothes??!!"  
  
"Calm down onna, we are not at a hospital."  
  
She looked up from the pile of stuff she was sifting through. "What do you mean, 'we are not at a hospital'? Where else would we be with me dressed like this?"  
  
"Bulma's. We are in the medical lab. Do you know who Bulma is?"  
  
Colleen walked back to the bed and sat down. "The smartest and richest woman in the world. That still doesn't explain where my clothes are."  
  
Piccolo leaned against the door frame. "She took them to be washed. If you want something more....suitable I suggest you ask her."  
  
Colleen blushed. Getting caught in a hospital gown sure pushed your pride level down. Especially if you're a girl and the person you're caught by is a guy. She slid off the bed, taking a sheet with her, and walked past Piccolo out the door to find Bulma and get some decent clothes on. She ran into Bulma as soon as she got out the door.  
  
"Oh good, you're awake! Hi, I'm Bulma. You've probably heard of me and my father's company."  
  
"Yes of course." Colleen said. "It's so nice to meet you. I don't know if Piccolo told you or not, but my name's Colleen. Um, could I have some clothes?" Colleen smiled and put her hand behind her head.  
  
Bulma put her hands over her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Of course you can have some clothes. How rude of me. I bet you're around my size. Come on, I have tons of clothes you could try on!" With that she grabbed Colleen's arm and pulled her up the stairs.  
  
When they got into Bulma's room, Bulma set Colleen on the bed and went into her HUGE closet. Colleen looked around the room. It was beautiful. The walls were blue with white lilies painted on randomly. She was on a queen sized bed with a white comforter and light blue silk pillows. By the bed was a large dark colored wood dresser with little angel figurines and a red music box. Across from the bed was the closet, private bathroom door, and a full body mirror. In the mirror she saw her own reflection for the first time in months. She looked awful! Her hair was messy and greasy, her face was dirty and bruised, as were her arms and legs.  
  
  
  
"Here we are." Said Bulma walking out of the closet. She was holding a bundle of clothes. She dropped them on the bed next to Colleen. "You can pick anything out of here."  
  
"Bulma?"  
  
"Yes Colleen?"  
  
"I could really use a shower, so...." Colleen said with a hopeful look on her face.  
  
"Be my guest."  
  
"Bulma, if I were a man, I'd kiss you."  
  
"Well you're not a man, so please don't." She said teasingly. She turned and walked into the bathroom to get a towel.  
  
'A shower.' Colleen thought. 'I'm going to take a real shower again!'  
  
Bulma came out of the bathroom, handed Colleen a blue towel and waved her goodbye. Colleen stepped out of the sheet and gown and went into the bathroom. She turned the shower on and stepped in.  
  
"Oh Kami, hot water." She looked up and saw all the different shampoos, conditioners and body washes. "I think I've died and gone to heaven!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
Piccolo, Bulma and Goku were in the kitchen. Piccolo and Goku were at the table, Bulma was at the stove cooking up something.  
  
"Oh boy, that smells great Bulma!" Goku said almost drooling.  
  
"Thanks Goku." She loaded some food onto a plate and put it in front Goku. He immediately dove into it forgetting his fork.  
  
Piccolo grimaced at the other end of the table. 'That's disgusting.'  
  
"Didn't miss breakfast, did I?" came Colleen's voice from in the kitchen doorway. Piccolo turned and nearly fell out of his seat. She was wearing a black tank top and blue jean shorts, and her hair was let down and was wet.  
  
'Wow. She looks good in black.' Piccolo thought.  
  
"Nope. But Goku ate all the food I just cooked up. If you want to help me make more food, you're welcome to it." Bulma said leaning one hand on the stove.  
  
"Ok." Colleen went to the stove and cracked a few eggs in a skillet. She and Bulma set to work on a new batch of food.  
  
"What's with the clothes Colleen? Where's your gi?" Piccolo asked.  
  
"I threw that old disgusting thing out." Bulma said.  
  
"You what?!" Piccolo's brows pulled together in a frown. Well, more of a frown than usual.  
  
"Calm down Pic." Colleen said not turning around. "You can just make me a new one later. Bulma, where's the salt?"  
  
"Over there." She pointed to a cupboard next to Colleen.  
  
Colleen grabbed the salt and sprinkled some on her omelet. She grabbed a piece of toast on the table untouched by Goku and sat down next to Piccolo. She grabbed a fork and dug in. At her first bite she made a moaning sound. Piccolo looked at her funny.  
  
"Real food." She explained. Piccolo quirked an eyeridge and continued to stare at her eating her meal.  
  
"What did you eat out in the wilderness?" Bulma asked.  
  
"Fruit, birds, nuts, the occasional fish......that's about it." She said taking another bite.  
  
"That's all? Wow, I could never do that. There's no variety." Bulma said taking a sip of coffee from a mug.  
  
Colleen licked her fork and placed it on the now empty plate. She took her orange juice already on the table and drank it all in one gulp. She stood up and took the dishes to the sink and placed them in. She rinsed them and hopped up on the counter swinging her legs back and forth crossed at the ankle.  
  
"I guess we can leave now." Piccolo said and stood up. He couldn't wait to get out of there. It was too cheery.  
  
"Why? I don't want to go back to the cave." Colleen said.  
  
"It's essential for out training. Come on." He crossed his arms in front of his chest waiting for Colleen to fallow him.  
  
"No. I don't like the cave. I don't care if it's essential. I want to go back to the clearing." Colleen crossed her arms in front of her chest signaling she wasn't about to move.  
  
"Oh, I know!" Bulma suddenly shouted. "You guys could stay here until the tournament. I have a huge backyard you guys could train in. It'll be perfect! I could always use another girl around here to talk to."  
  
Piccolo didn't like the idea one bit. "Bulma-"  
  
"That's a great idea Bulma! Of course we'll stay!" Colleen interrupted.  
  
"Now listed here!" Piccolo tried.  
  
"Great!" said Bulma. "I'll get both your rooms ready. Or if you'd rather sleep outside I could set up some tents."  
  
"Hello, are you listening to me?" Piccolo tried again.  
  
"I know Piccolo will want to stay outside, but I'd really appreciate a bed." Colleen said putting her hand on her chest.  
  
"I don't want to stay here!" Piccolo said. Still the girls babbled on.  
  
"It's futile, my friend." Goku said after finishing all the food on his plate. "Once girls get to something, they won't let go and not you nor I can make them."  
  
"Oh really? You just watch." Piccolo walked up to the girls, still gabbing away.  
  
"Colleen, we are NOT staying here. That is final." And he started to walk away smirking knowing she wouldn't contradict him. So little he knows of women.  
  
"Oh no it's not! We're staying here, and THAT is final!" She said putting her hands on her hips.  
  
He turned around with anger clearly evident on his face. "Colleen, can we talk in private?"  
  
"Sure." She hopped down from the kitchen counter and followed him into the living room.  
  
"Who do you think you are talking to me like that?!" Piccolo yelled.  
  
"I can talk to you anyway I want!" she snapped back.  
  
"Oh really? Fine then. But we are not staying here!"  
  
"You are not my father, my brother, or my boyfriend! You have no right ordering me around. It's always been what you want, not what I want. You say where we live, how we train, when we train, when I can rest, when I can eat, and everything about my life since I got dropped in this dimension! It's my turn to make some of the decisions! And I decide we stay here until the Martial Arts Tournament!!" Her face was red with anger by the time she finished. Piccolo's was purple with it.  
  
"I give you a choice, it's you who chooses to go with what I tell you to do. I think you forget you're place. I am Piccolo The-"  
  
"Demon King. Yes I know, I've heard it a million times before! And I have no place with you, I am your equal whether you like it or not! Why don't you want to stay here? Goku won't be here."  
  
"Why do you want to stay?!"  
  
"Oh I don't know." She took her hands off her hip and started counting with her fingers. "More than semi-edible food, a warm bed, heat, fresh clean running water, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, a place to come into after the rain that's DRY! I could go on."  
  
Piccolo just stared at her. Was she really that miserable with him? His brows came down more from a frown to a scowl. "Fine." He said spitefully. He walked past her and went out the kitchen door to the backyard.  
  
Bulma took the chance to peek in the living room without getting her head bitten off. "Soo...are you guys staying?"  
  
Colleen smiled. "Yep. Piccolo will just have to get used to it for a month."  
  
Bulma smiled. "Good. Come on, let's get your room ready."  
  
"A real bed. Bulma, you have no idea how happy this makes me!" And they both went up the stairs leaving a still hungry Goku, and an infuriated demon.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ok peoples, this is where I need your help. In the next chapter the World Martial Arts Tournament will finally take place. Only problem is, I never saw the episode(s) where Goku and Piccolo fight. I know, I'm bad! I need you to tell me what happens, how many people were there (fighters), and who were the last 8 finalists. Tell me the weakest one so I can replace them. Tell me who Goku beats and who Piccolo beats. And be as detailed as humanly possible for the final fight between our muscle heads. And, if possible, tell me any key lines they might have said that is essential to the story. Either tell me in a review or e-mail me. On the e-mail title it WMAT PvsG details. Thank you soooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Wow, I had a long chapter! Yay me! REVIEW!!!! And again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!!!! 


	9. Beginings of War

Disclaimer: Once again, I OWN NOTHING!!!!!  
  
A/N: I'm back! Did ya miss me? With all of the holiday stuff and shopping and family parties, I haven't had a whole lot of time to write. Plus I've had a little bit of writer's block. *shrill scream is heard in the back round* It was   
very scary. But I got off my butt and started this. It's just a little part in the beginning of the tournament to tide you guys over until I get started on the final battles.   
  
Thank you dlgsprincess105, for you are the ONLY person who gave me some clue as to what happened. I'm going on what you gave me, so I hope I get it right. I may be excluding some parts of the tournament anyway just to save time, though.   
  
On with chapter 9.  
  
{} = telepathy  
() = me butting in  
* = written sound  
~*~ = scene change  
[] = new scene  
= time warp  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep *SMASH*  
  
Colleen brought her hand off the pile of smashed metal pieces on her dresser that used to be an alarm. She rolled over on the twin bed so she was on her back and she kicked the white bed spread off, her loose gray sweatpants flying around her   
ankles. She brought her hands above her head and arched her back off the bed stretching her back muscles, her white T-shirt rising over her belly-button. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She yawned and rubbed her eyes   
as she walked toward the window. She opened the dark red curtain and was met by the sight of a crescent moon and stars.  
  
'I cannot wait until I can sleep in until 5 a.m.. getting up at 3 o'clock in the morning is just cruel.' She thought groggily. For the past month Piccolo had gotten her up at 3 a.m. to train, instead of the usual 5 a.m..   
  
She looked out the window down into the back yard of C.C.. Piccolo was already doing push-ups. She yawned again and leaned her elbows on the windowsill, resting her head in her left hand.  
  
{You don't have to train today, you know.} Colleen thought.  
  
Piccolo looked up to the window where Colleen was looking out at him. {I know.}  
  
Colleen's brows came down in a frown. {Okay, let me rephrase that. You _shouldn't_ be training today. You'll tire out and won't be at full potential for the tournament.}  
  
{I know what I'm doing.} He stood up and faced her. He folded his arms over his chest and smirked. {You shouldn't be so worried about me and start worrying about your hair. You'll scare more people than I will.}  
  
{Oh, ha ha. Very funny. You're a real hoot, Pic.} She rolled her eyes, stood up and closed the curtains.  
  
Piccolo chuckled. He loved annoying her. She was so cute when she was aggravated.  
  
Piccolo slapped his hand over his face and mentally kicked himself for thinking such a thing. What was wrong with him? Ever since Colleen made them stay in this accursed place he'd been thinking crazy things like how pretty her eyes were and  
how much he loved her company. It was maddening! He shouldn't feel like this. He shouldn't _be able_ to feel like this!  
  
'I'll feel a lot better once I get to the tournament. Just a few more hours.' He told himself. He sat down in a lotus position and started meditating.  
  
Colleen looked out the large sliding glass door in the kitchen out at Piccolo. She leaned against the door frame and sighed. Piccolo had been avoiding her all month and she had no idea why. Had it been the fight?  
  
"Nah. He wouldn't keep a grudge over that." She said. She sighed again.  
  
'In any case,' she thought. 'He can't avoid me at the tournament.' She smiled. "I'm actually going tot fight in _the_ Word Martial Arts Tournament! I just hope I'm not royally screwing over their entire universe by entering this thing.   
I've got a feeling I've already thrown enough out of whack to totally change some things around here."  
  
She walked away from the door and headed for the stove. She turned the stove light on and took some bread out of the bread box and stuck it in the toaster. Shuffling her bare feet on the tiled floor, Colleen sat in a chair and laid her   
head on her crossed arms on the table.  
  
Piccolo opened the glass door, stepped in the kitchen and took his shirt off. He closed the door and wiped the sweat off his face using his gi top. He turned toward the refrigerator to get some water, but stopped when he saw Colleen.   
She looked so peaceful and angel-like sleeping there.   
  
'Stop it!!' He yelled in his head. He walked over to the frige and threw the door open. He grabbed a bottle of water out and turned around to go back outside.  
  
"Mmmm......Piccolo?" Colleen mumbled.  
  
He stopped and turned around to face Colleen yawning and rubbing her eyes.  
  
"What are you doing in here?" she asked.  
  
"Decided I'd take your advice of taking it easy until the tournament. And I was thirsty." He answered holding the bottle up.  
  
"You actually _listened_ to me without question? It's a miracle!" she chuckled and laid her head on her hand.  
  
"Yea, yea. Just don't get used to it." Piccolo said and took a drink of water and sat down across the table. He leaned to one side looking over Colleen's shoulder, quirked an eyeridge and smirked.  
  
"What?" Colleen asked confused.  
  
"I may not be very literate on how the human home is supposed to work, but I'm pretty sure the stove shouldn't be smoking and on fire."   
  
"Oh crap!" Colleen jumped out of her seat and ran to the stove. The toaster had fallen over and was now nicely billowing smoke from the burnt pieces of bread. She picked up the toaster and tossed it from hand to hand whispering 'ow,ow',   
for it was quite hot. She threw the toaster in the sink and began to blow on her hands.  
  
"You'd think that getting by getting hit by ki blasts all the time, burns wouldn't hurt as much." She said and started sucking on the burn marks on her hands. Piccolo smirked.  
  
"Well," Colleen said as she sat down next to Piccolo. "Breakfast is shot, cause I don't feel like cooking. I'll let Bulma do it when she gets up. Unless of course if you want to make me something." She then started to giggle, then chuckle   
loudly, then she went into an all out belly laugh.  
  
Piccolo frowned. "What's so funny?"  
  
Colleen rubbed a tear off one of her eyes. "I'm just....hehe....imagining...you....hahaha......trying to cook." She said between giggles.  
  
"What says I can't?" Piccolo said defiantly, folding his arms over his muscled chest. (Oo la la ^_^)  
  
Colleen looked at him and burst out laughing seeing the seriousness in his face. She laughed so hard she fell out of her chair and laid on the floor holding her stomach, laughing uncontrollably.   
  
Bulma walked into the kitchen in a pair of shorts and a white tank top with a teddy bear on it. She had her hair in a messy pony tail. She rubbed her eyes.  
  
"*yawn* What's going on here?" she asked.  
  
Colleen got up off the floor, still giggling, and walked over to Bulma. "Piccolo is going to make us breakfast." She said, trying to keep a straight face.  
  
Bulma looked from Piccolo to Colleen, and back to Piccolo again. The corners of her mouth started to turn up and she began to chuckle. Then both she and Colleen laughed out loud holding their sides.  
  
Piccolo looked less than amused. He was one of the most powerful beings on the planet, and he was being laughed at by two little human teenage females. They didn't believe he could do this trivial housewife act. He could do anything, and he'd prove it.  
  
He walked up to the girls, now only giggling a little. "If you two would be kind enough to leave, I'll make you something."  
  
The girls stopped giggling and just stared at him.  
  
"Uh, Pic," Colleen started. "We weren't serious, you know. You don't have to."  
  
"No, no. Let's let him try. I'd like to see the results. Or lack there of." Bulma said. She took Colleen by the arm and they walked out of the kitchen into the living room.  
  
"Call us when you're done, Mr. Chef." Bulma called from the living room. More giggling could be heard from down the hall.  
  
Piccolo 'hmphed' and walked over to the stove. He opened a cook book on the counter and began reading. He decided to try pancakes. He got the ingredients out and proper cooking utensils.  
  
"Now then." He said. "If Bulma and Colleen can do this, it can't be _that_ hard. Let's see here." He looked in the book and began to read and throw ingredients into a bowl.  
  
~*~*~[living room]~*~*~   
  
"It's been 20 minutes and no explosions or smoke. That's a good sign." Bulma said flipping through a magazine.  
  
"Still doesn't mean the kitchen's not in a mess." Colleen replied. She was on the couch next to Bulma with her legs pulled up and her upper body resting on the arm rest. She had the remote in her hand and was flipping through the channels.   
Commercial after commercial after commercial. She flipped through a bunch of channels, then went back a channel at a familiar face on the screen.  
  
"Today on Oprah we will be talking about the tragedies inflicted by the infamous Piccolo and the people who survived these horrific encounters."  
  
'They have Oprah here?' Colleen thought. She turned the volume up as a red-haired woman in awful green clad came out and started talking about her horrible encounter with the 'demon'.  
  
"......Then he came towards out house. My children and I were in a closet when an explosion blew the roof off our house. I grabbed the baby and my daughter and headed out the back, hoping he wouldn't see us. But, he did." The woman took   
a shaky breath and Oprah took her hand.  
  
"What's this?" Bulma asked putting her magazine down on the coffee table.  
  
"Shhh!" Colleen hissed and waved her hand to keep Bulma quiet.  
  
"He came towards us." The woman on screen said. "One of our neighbors, a man, came up to him and tried to fight him. The demon lifted his arm and a blinding light came out of his hand and hit the man. The light shone off his face. Oh,   
I'll never forget that evil smile." She paused and took another breath. "When the light disappeared, all that was left of the man was ashes."   
  
The crowd gasped and started mumbling amongst themselves. The camera went into a close-up of Oprah's face. "We'll be right back to hear the ending of that terrifying story when we come back." She said, and it went to commercial.  
  
Colleen lifted the remote and turned the TV off.  
  
"Wow." Bulma said. "You live with a guy a month and forget how bad he really is."  
  
"Was." Colleen corrected her.  
  
Bulma looked over to Colleen. "Yea. Any guy who'll cook us breakfast can't be all bad." Bulma chuckled. Colleen smiled.  
  
"Food's done!" Piccolo yelled from the kitchen.  
  
"Finally! I'm starving!" Colleen yelled back to him. The girls got off the couch and headed for the kitchen.  
  
"_Dun_ _dun_ da _dun_, _dun_ _dun_ _dun_ _dun_ _dun_ _da_ _dun_." Bulma whispered. They both giggled.  
  
They stepped into the kitchen and were met with the smell of pancakes.  
  
'Smells edible.' Colleen thought.  
  
Piccolo was seated at the table with his arms folded. On the table was two plates of pancakes, two glasses of orange juice, and a bottle of syrup.  
  
'Looks edible.' Bulma thought. The girls sat down in front of their plates.   
  
"Piccolo, could you get me some butter please?" Colleen asked. He got up and walked over to the counter.  
  
Bulma leaned across the table and whispered to Colleen. "You think he'd poison us?" she asked.  
  
Colleen's eyes went from Bulma's face to Piccolo's back, back to Bulma. "Not intentionally." She whispered back.  
  
They both pulled apart as Piccolo came back from the counter with the butter in his hand. "Well," he said as he put the butter down on the table in front of Colleen. "Somebody try it."  
  
Bulma and Colleen both looked at their food, then each other. Colleen mouthed a 'you try it', and Bulma mouthed a 'no, you'. So Colleen picked up her knife, got some butter and spread it on her pancakes. She squeezed the syrup on   
top of them and cut a piece. She hesitantly put the piece of food in her mouth and began to chew. Bulma and Piccolo both looked at her while she chewed it and swallowed.  
  
"You know, Piccolo." She said. "For someone who doesn't eat, you aren't a bad cook." Bulma dove into her plate. She'd missed dinner the night before and was very hungry.  
  
"Glad you like it." Piccolo said. "I'm going outside, if anyone cares."  
  
"Don't......train." Colleen said between chews. But Piccolo had already gone out the door.  
  
"Well," Bulma said as she stood up and put her plate in the sink. "Only about 4 hours till the sign-up. We better get ready. What are you going to wear?" She leaned against the counter and twirled a loose strand of her bangs that   
had fallen over her eyes.  
  
Colleen shrugged and walked over to the sink with her plate. "Don't know. I was just ganna get Pic to materialize something for me."  
  
Bulma stopped twirling her hair. "Not one of those hideous gi's?!" She made a disgusted face and pointed her finger at her mouth and stuck out her tongue.  
  
"Nah. They're too baggy to really fight in, in my opinion. They're okay to spar, but not to all out fight." Colleen walked toward the glass sliding door leading outside. She sighed heavily and leaned her forehead against the glass.  
  
Bulma hopped up on the counter and smirked. Colleen was looking out staring at Piccolo meditate. Bulma just couldn't help but to smile whenever one of them looked at the other. She knew what was going on, even if they didn't. She   
was going to have so much fun setting them up and then spying on them.  
  
'By the end of the month I'll have them together and happy.' She thought. She got down off the counter and left the kitchen to her bedroom upstairs to change.  
  
  
Colleen opened the door and stepped out onto the patio. The cement was cold under her bare feet and it gave her goose bumps. She walked out onto the dew kissed grass toward Piccolo and took up a lotus position next to him.  
  
{Only 4 hours before we leave. You excited?} Colleen said telepathically.  
  
Piccolo opened his left eye to look at her and closed it again. {A little.}  
  
Colleen's eyebrows went up. {Only a little? You're about to fight Son Goku, your arch rival since.....forever, and you're only a _little_ excited?}  
  
{I have to keep focused.} he answered.  
  
{My stomach is doing flip-flops I'm so nervous. I swear the whole flippin' three ring circus is in there, and the elephants have gotten loose.} Piccolo couldn't help but laugh a little.  
  
{I mean, I know I won't win, but it's just the thrill of going. I have no idea how you can be so calm.}  
  
Piccolo's face suddenly hardened. {Do you think I will win?} he asked.  
  
Colleen was a bit taken back by his question. What should she say? She already knew who was going to win. She'd just have to give a win-loose answer.  
  
"I have faith in you." She said aloud. She opened her eyes and looked at Piccolo sideways. He was looking back at her, smiling. She probably had no clue how much that meant to him. She was the only one he counted on, and   
she was the only one he needed.  
  
He stood up and faced her. "You need a new uniform. Stand up, I'll make you another gi."  
  
Colleen did as she was told and stood in front of him. Piccolo extended his arm and placed his hand on her head.  
  
"Wait." Colleen said. "I don't want to wear the red gi. Not the pants any ways."  
  
Piccolo sighed. "Well, your Highness, what would you like." He said annoyed.   
  
"I'll keep the gi shirt, but I want to wear shorts. They have to be tight, but easy to move in. Um...make them black. And I can borrow some boots from Bulma."  
  
"You seem to have the dilution I'm your personal tailor, Colleen." He frowned.  
  
She smiled sweetly. "Well, that's because you are P-chan."  
  
"Yea, yea." A gold light surrounded Colleen, and in a split second she was dressed in a red tank top and black shorts. She did a practice round-house kick to test her new clothes out.  
  
"Perfect. Thanks Pic. You're so sweet!" she reached up and pinched his cheek.  
  
"Ugh, off all the adjectives in the human language to describe me, you just had to pick sweet." He grimaced.  
  
"Well that's because you are. Sweet as apple pie." She smiled.   
  
"Don't make me throw up." Piccolo said. Colleen laughed.   
  
They both looked into each other's eyes and just stood there. Colleen was no longer pinching Piccolo's cheek, but her hand was just resting on it. She was lost in his dark, deep onyx eyes. If time would stand still, she could stare into   
those eyes forever. She loved him so much.   
  
Piccolo couldn't pull his gaze from those icy-blue eyes of hers. He wanted to do something, but didn't know what. This feeling he had for her, it was so different from anything he'd ever felt before. It scared him, but he   
didn't want it to go away.   
  
"Guys! The plane's ready! Haul butt!" Bulma yelled from the kitchen. She was wearing a white T-shirt, a blue mini skirt, and sneakers.  
  
  
Colleen and Piccolo were snapped out of their daze. They both blinked and Colleen took her hand off of Piccolo's face.  
  
"Coming!" Colleen yelled back and ran over to Bulma. She put both hands in front of her face in a praying position and faced Bulma. "Bulma-I-need-to-borrow-your-good-black-boots-for-the-tournament-okay-thanks-bye!" she   
said very quickly and ran past Bulma into the house.  
  
Bulma immediately turned around and ran after her yelling. "WAIT JUST A MINUTE!! Those were a Christmas present from Yamcha, you can't wear them to FIGHT IN!! Colleen?! COLLEEN, DO YOU HEAR ME??!!"  
  
Bulma's yelling could be heard throughout the house and into the yard. Piccolo shook his head and walked inside were, from the sounds of it, Colleen and Bulma were wrestling upstairs. Two of the craziest women in the world,   
and he lived with them.  
  
He walked outside into the front yard where a big yellow plane was. He stepped inside the back into the large cargo holding area.  
  
"Oh Bulma, you're back. Hey I bet those two will be a while so we can.......you're not Bulma." Yamcha said as he came into the back from the cockpit.  
  
Piccolo sneered at him. "You figure that out all by yourself?"  
  
"Look pal," Yamcha sighed. "I don't like you, you don't like me. But today we have to put up with each other, if only for the 2 and a half hour plane ride. So, do we have a truce until the tournament?" Yamcha extended his   
hand to shake on the agreement.  
  
Piccolo stared at his hand, turned around and sat on the floor. "Just stay away from me and we'll be fine, _pal_."  
  
Both men looked towards the back entrance as Bulma stomped into the plane mumbling angrily. Colleen was soon to follow, wearing the knee high black boots she had "borrowed" from Bulma.   
  
Colleen sat down next to Piccolo with a big grin on her face. "I always get what I want." She said happily.  
  
"Just remember that they belong to ME! You _will_ return them in perfect condition after the tournament, or pay for their damage." Bulma yelled from the front of the plane.  
  
"Don't worry your pretty little head off, Bulma." Colleen answered back. She finally noticed Yamcha standing in a corner. "Oh, hi Yamcha." She said and waved.  
  
"Hi." He said flatly.   
  
Bulma walked out of the cockpit then. "Now we have some ground rules for this whole thing. Colleen, care to start out?"  
  
"I'd be delighted." She answered, stood up and walked next to Bulma. "Rule number one: You two boys will behave in an orderly manor whilst on this plane and at the tournament when not competing."  
  
"Rule number two," Bulma said. "If you two should get into a situation where you are arguing or, Heaven help you, fighting, we will get complete control over you, your actions, your speech, and anything else we please."  
  
"Rule number three," Colleen started again. "Should you break rules one and/or two, there will be Hell to pay."  
  
"You boys think these rules fair?" Bulma asked.  
  
Yamcha walked up to the two girls waving his hands and bowing his head. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. I have a problem with rule number two. You two....._you two_.....will get complete and total control over us, me and Piccolo, of we   
act up in any way you two don't like? I don't like the sound of that."  
  
"For once, I agree with the human." Piccolo said, standing up. "Change rule number two."  
  
"Okay, okay." Bulma said.  
  
"We'll only take control of you if you act totally out of control. You know, if homicidal attempts arise. Sound fair now?" Colleen said.  
  
"I guess." Yamcha said. "Piccolo?"  
  
Piccolo shrugged. "Whatever."  
  
"All righty then. Let's go. We have about two hours to get there in time to sign up." Bulma said and went to the pilots seat.   
  
Colleen sat down next to Piccolo again who'd taken up a meditation position. The engine roared and the plane lifted off the ground into the sky.  
  
[World Martial Arts Tournament]  
  
People were running around everywhere. There were food stands and gift carts everywhere you looked. Little kids pulling on their mothers or riding their father's shoulders were at every turn. It all had an exciting air   
around it. And there were signs everywhere. In Japanese.  
  
Colleen tapped Piccolo on the shoulder. He leaned down to her level as she whispered in his ear. "You can read all of the signs, right?"  
  
"Of course I can." He said and looked at her confused.  
  
"Good. Cause I can't." She said.  
  
The group of fighters, with the exception of Bulma, walked up to the registration desk in front of an elaborate temple/stadium. Yamcha signed up and walked over to where Bulma was waiting. At the desk was an old man of   
about 70. Colleen stepped up to his desk. He didn't pay any attention to her until she snapped her fingers in front of his face.  
  
"What? Huh? Oh, I'm sorry deary. Just dozed off. You do that when you get old. So, what can I do for you?" he asked in a raspy old-man voice.  
  
"I'm here to sign up to compete in the tournament." she said.  
  
"Really? A young slip of a thing like you? Okay, but I think you should reconsider. That man before you looked pretty tough and he's not the biggest I've seen." He said, adjusting his glasses.  
  
Colleen smiled and chuckled. "I think I'll be all right."  
  
"Okay then, what's your name?" he asked.  
  
"Colleen." She answered.  
  
"Haylene." The old man said as he wrote it on the registration form.  
  
"No, it's _Colleen_." She corrected him.  
  
"Oh, terribly sorry. My ears aren't what they used to be." He laughed and scribbled out what he previously wrote down. "So K-a-l-e-n-e." He spelled out.  
  
"No, it's C-o-l-l-e-e-n. Colleen." Colleen said in an annoyed voice.  
  
"All right then. Age?"   
  
"Fourteen."  
  
{Fourteen? I thought you were thirteen.} Piccolo asked her telepathically.  
  
{No. My birthday was last month. Didn't I tell you?} She thought back.  
  
{No.}  
  
{Oh, well, I'm fourteen! There, now you know.}  
  
"Miss?" the old man asked. "I don't think I should allow you in the competition."  
  
"What?! Why not?" she asked angry and surprised.  
  
"You're only fourteen. We usually don't allow women under 17 to compete."  
  
"What's the minimum age for men?" she asked.  
  
"Twelve."   
  
"Ha! I knew it!" she said and banged her hand on the table. "This is sexism, and I demand that you let me fight! Women can fight just as good as men!" she fumed.  
  
"Well," the old man said. "Since you're such a firecracker, I'll let you in."  
  
Colleen folded her arms and smirked in triumph. "Thank you."  
  
The old man handed her a piece of paper. "Just go down that way," he said and pointed to his right. "And hand this to the man at the gate. He'll let you in and that will be where the Elimination Rounds will be held."   
  
Colleen took the piece of paper and stepped to the side, letting Piccolo come into view.  
  
The old man took out a new registration form. "And what can I do for..." he looked up and was met with only a chest. He looked up, way up, and finally saw Piccolo's face. "You! My, what are they feeding you young   
people these days? I don't think I have to ask if you'll be competing." He said and laughed, then coughed a little. "What's your name?"  
  
"MaJunior." Piccolo replied.  
  
{MaJunior?} Colleen asked.  
  
{So people won't know who I am.} he answered.  
  
{Oh, yea. That's right.}  
  
The man scribbled it down on the piece of paper. "Age?"  
  
"Sixteen."   
  
"You're kidding! You look a lot older than you are, sonny. I would've guessed you'd be somewhere in your twenties." He said. Piccolo didn't reply, just stared at the old man.  
  
The old man turned to Colleen. "Ain't much of a talker, is he?"   
  
Colleen giggled a little. "Only when he wants to, which isn't often."  
  
"Here ya go." The man said, handing the form to Piccolo. "Follow her, give this to the man at the gate, yada yada."  
  
Piccolo took the form and walked away, saying not even a 'thank you'. He walked past Colleen in the direction the man had directed them in. Colleen ran up to him and walked by his side.  
  
"You could have at least thanked him. He was pretty nice." Colleen said.  
  
"You think he would've been nice if he knew who I really am?" Piccolo asked staring straight ahead.  
  
Colleen pinched the bridge of her nose. "Really Pic, you are _way_ too jaded."  
  
"And you naive." He answered back coldly.  
  
She looked at him surprised. She ran in front of him with her arms crossed and stopped him in his tracks. "Okay, what did I do?"  
  
Piccolo looked at her with confusion. "Nothing. Why would you think you've done something?"  
  
"Because you're being such a jerk. You've been acting like this towards me for a month now, and I think I have the right to know why." She took her hands down and put them at her sides. "Is it something I did,   
said, didn't do, didn't say? You need to give me some clues here."  
  
"*sigh* It's complicated. I swear I didn't mean to treat you that way. I'm sorry." He said.  
  
Colleen smiled. "I'll forgive you. Just no more jerkiness, okay?"   
  
"Okay." He replied.  
  
"Scouts honor?"  
  
Piccolo quirked an eyeridge. "What?"  
  
Colleen face faulted and sweat dropped. "Oh, never mind. Come on." She said and grabbed Piccolo's arm.  
  
They reached the back entrance to the temple where a large man with a turban and a beard was standing with a sword wrapped around his belt. He was big, very big. He stepped in front of Piccolo and Colleen as they tried to enter.  
  
"And you want?" he asked in a low, harsh voice.  
  
"We are competing." Piccolo answered.  
  
The man eyed the two skeptically. "Registration forms." He said as a demand, not a question. They each handed the man their forms. He looked each one over. "Fine." He said and stepped aside.  
  
Piccolo and Colleen walked through the open door. At least Piccolo got through. Colleen was stopped before she got a chance to step inside.  
  
"Not you little girl." The man said as he grabbed her arm.  
  
"Why not?" She asked, not struggling.  
  
"Two reasons. One, you're only fourteen. Two, you're a girl. I am responsible for any competitor who comes through this gate. I do not need your blood all over the floor."   
  
This made Colleen furious, but she didn't struggle. "Is everyone here a sexist moron? The man at the Registration desk said I could compete, and compete I will. Now get your hands off me."   
  
The man gave no reply, he just simply turned her around and threw her into the street.   
  
She looked into the door trying to spot Piccolo. "Piccolo?" She said. But he was nowhere in sight.   
  
'He ditched me!!' she thought furiously. 'When I get my hands on him...'  
  
But her thought was interrupted by the guards yelling. Piccolo had picked him up by the shoulders to his height and was looking very not nicely into his face.   
  
"Let. Her. In." Piccolo said dangerously.  
  
"Fine!" The man said frantically. Piccolo released him and Colleen walked by his side into the temple.   
  
"Don't blame me for her getting killed!" The man yelled back.   
  
"Thanks. For a minute there, I thought you had bailed on me." Colleen said.  
  
The two walked down a long hall with paintings, stools with vases on them, and a statue of a gargoyle here and there. The stone was corroded and old, but beautifully carved with dragons, samurai and damsels in   
distress. At the end of the hall was a large wooden door with purple curtains hanging over it. Colleen opened the door and was met with the sight of fighters everywhere.  
  
Piccolo walked into the room first with Colleen following. There were so many different types of fighters in every corner, with many different colors. It was mesmerizing to Colleen. It was very different to   
see everything up close and personal than watch it on TV.   
  
There were karate experts of every belt, color and master. Sumo wrestlers with two sizes; big and bigger. There were boxers, kick boxers, wrestlers, monks, fighters of every martial arts style, and average old   
Joe's who came just to punch people.   
  
There were also many different species who had come. Dinosaur people, cat people, dog people, wolf people, rabbit people, even a bug person or two. The whole room was filled with anticipation of the days events.   
And, of course with all the men, testosterone was all around and plentiful.   
  
Piccolo went over by the wall and sat in a lotus position directly behind where Colleen was standing. She was about to sit next to him when she heard her name being called over the crowd.   
  
"Colleen! Over here!" A voice yelled from across the room. A man pushed through the crowd and stood in front of Colleen, grinning like no tomorrow.  
  
"Goku!" Colleen jumped up and hugged him tightly around the neck. This got Goku a death glare from a certain green fellow. "I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"  
  
Goku put Colleen down. "Great! And you?"  
  
"Pretty good. Where is everybody?" she asked and started to look around.  
  
"Everybody? Well, Yamcha and some other friends of ours are over there." He said and pointed behind him across the room.   
  
"Hey Goku, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend besides ChiChi. You've been holding out on us my friend." A small bald man said.  
  
"She's not my girlfriend, Krillin." Goku said.  
  
"So that means she's up for grabs." Krillin said and faced Colleen. "Hello there, my name's Krillin. What's yours?" he said and kissed Colleen's hand.  
  
"Colleen. It's a pleasure to meet you."  
  
"As it is to meet you. So, you here alone?" he asked.  
  
Piccolo stood up then with his arms folded. "She is with me."   
  
Krillin's face turned a pale shade of white, then a pretty shade of blue. "O-o-h. I d-didn't real-lize, I mean I- I didn't-t kn-now-"  
  
"Piccolo won't bite you, you know." Colleen said amused.   
  
"Oh yea, how do you know?" Krillin asked nervously.  
  
"I've been living with him for six months. He's a real kitten once you get to know him."  
  
"Kitten. Yea. Sure. Whatever you say. I'll be way over there if anyone needs me." And before you could say scardey-cat, he was gone. Only a little shadowy puff of dust in his outline was standing where he once was.  
  
"ATTENTION EVERYONE!!" A loud voice came over the intercom. "WILL EVERYONE PLEASE COME TO THE WEST SIDE OF THE ROOM FOR NUMBER ASSIGHNMENTS. THAT IS ALL."  
  
Everyone in the room crowded around a man in a business suit with yellow hair and sunglasses. He was standing on a podium with a clipboard in his hand.   
  
Colleen and Piccolo were in the back, and Colleen was jumping up and down trying to see something. She was probably the shortest person there except for Krillin.   
  
"What are you doing?" Piccolo asked staring at her acting like a jackrabbit.  
  
"I can't see." She whined. "Can I sit on your shoulder pad?" Piccolo nodded in approval and she hopped up on his left shoulder pad and sat. "Ah, much better."  
  
"I'll assume that everyone who wants to compete is here and start." The man in the business suit said. "We'll first go over the rules. One: You may not compete without proper registration. Two: Weapons   
are not allowed. If you have claws, fangs, spikes, tail, or any other appendage that may be used as a weapon, use of these appendages _is_ permitted. Three: No hitting below the belt. Four: No fighting   
in an unfair manor, such as poking your opponent in the eyes. Five: The biggest rule of the competition. NO KILLING! If you kill your opponent, you are disqualified."  
  
'That could be a problem.' Piccolo thought.  
  
"Disobedience of any of these rules will result in disqualification. Do you all understand?"   
  
"YES!" was heard from everyone.  
  
"All right. There are 213 people here, and we've randomly selected and divided, as equally as possible, you into 8 groups. Group One!" And he recited all the names of the people in their groups.  
  
(I am totally guessing here) Goku was in group 5. Yamcha and Tien were in group 2. Chaitzu and Krillin were in group 8. Colleen was in group seven with Yajarobe and Piccolo in group three With ChiChi.   
They all were standing in their numbered groups by poles with their numbers on them.  
  
"Now the battling begins!" In all eight rings two fighter faced off. In the ring for group 5, Goku was to fight Tsuramagi. (I didn't get this guys name, so I'm making it up. Don't sue me, k?)  
  
They both got into the ring at opposite ends. Goku recognized this man as one he'd fought before in an Elimination round in the last tournament. The gong rang and Tsuramagi charged Goku with his elbow   
extended in front of him yelling a war cry. Goku dodged his elbow and tapped him on the shoulder. Normally this would be a fighter's downfall, but Goku is no normal fighter. The little tap sent Tsuramagi   
flying out of the ring and into a wall.  
  
Colleen and Piccolo's groups were next to each other, so they sat a foot apart from each other on the edge of their groups.  
  
'Man this is boring waiting to fight. How can I pass the boredom?' Colleen thought. 'I know!'  
  
"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall! 98 bottle of beer on the wall,"  
  
Piccolo looked over to Colleen who was singing........heck he didn't know, she was going insane by the looks of it to him! "What...are you doing?" Piccolo asked her.  
  
"Killing the boredom.....96 bottles of beer on the wall, 96 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 95 bottles of beer on the wall! 95 bottles of beer on the wall-"  
  
"Stop it."   
  
"No-95 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 94 bottles of beer on the wall! 94-" Her singing was suddenly stopped by a gag mysteriously materializing over her mouth. She looked over to   
Piccolo who was smirking and glared at him.   
  
"Fine." She said once she took the gag off. "I won't sing that."  
  
"Thank you." Piccolo said.  
  
".........I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, and this is how it goes............I know a song that gets on   
everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, and this is how it goes.........I know a song"  
  
"OH WILL YOU _SHUT_ UP_!!" Piccolo yelled. He was right in her face so she had to lean back to avoid being too close.  
  
"Okay, okay. What would you like me to sing?" she asked.  
  
"Colleen, you are this close," he held his index finger and thumb together very close. "This close to getting the crap beaten out of you. I don't want to hear you sing, hum, whistle, or breath a   
melodic tune. Got it?" he asked and forcefully smiled.  
  
"Got it." She said.  
  
"Okay." Piccolo sighed and sat back down again.  
  
"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town."  
  
"Oh Kami." Piccolo groaned and slumped down.  
  
"MaJunior and Marcus." A small monk man said by the ring.  
  
"Yes. I get to hurt something." Piccolo said as he stood up.   
  
In the ring was a man with black hair and stubble on his chin. He was wearing blue silk boxer-type shorts and boxing gloves. Piccolo stepped into the ring and stood with his arms crossed.   
  
The gong sounded and the boxing man started to hop from one foot to the next around Piccolo.  
  
"Come on, man. Fight me!" he said.  
  
Piccolo didn't say anything, but reached out his arm and caught the boxers head in a choke hold. The poor boxer's oxygen was going fast as he squirmed trying futilely to escape Piccolo's grasp. Another   
fighter ran to the man in the suit and whispered in his ear.  
  
"Hey! You can't do that!" He yelled and ran over to the ring. "Release him at once!" he said through the ropes. "You've already won, let him go."  
  
Piccolo let the now unconscious man go. He flopped onto the floor on his face. Piccolo walked out of the ring and took his position next to Colleen again, who'd stopped singing long enough to watch his   
fight. Her mouth was open and she was staring at Piccolo, her eyes following him from the ring to his seat next to her.  
  
"You could've killed him!" she said.  
  
"Yes. But I didn't." He said back smirking.  
  
Colleen looked at him dumfounded. "What?" he asked, seeing her look.  
  
"I.....I have to fight now." She said and got up. Piccolo watched her stand and walk to her ring. When she was climbing the ropes, she looked back at him with worry and...  
  
'Fear?' Piccolo thought. 'Why is she looking at me that way? It was just a fight.'  
  
[in a room by the gate to the ring]  
  
"Okay, we have out eight finalists!" The man in the suit said. "Please say 'here' when I call your name. Goku."   
  
"Here."  
  
"Krillin."  
  
"Here."  
  
"Colleen."  
  
"Present."  
  
"Princess ChiChi."  
  
"I'm here."  
  
"Yamcha."  
  
"Here."  
  
"MaJunior."  
  
"Yea."  
  
"Tien."  
  
"Here."  
  
"Shen."  
  
"Here."  
  
"All right then, let's begin. First up, Colleen and Tien." (I'm really going to be switching some of the fighters around, so don't be mad at me, please.)  
  
"Awesome." Colleen said and punched her right fist into her open left palm.  
  
All the fighters walked into a back stage area near the ring. The crowd was noisily talking and moving around. Colleen suddenly felt her stomach doing flip-flops   
again. She hated performing in front   
of people, it always made her really nervous. She started to bite her nails and tap her foot as she looked out onto the crowd. She turned her head around at   
the feel of someone's hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Don't worry." Goku said. "You'll do fine."  
  
She turned her head back out to the masses of people. "There are just so many people. I hate going in front of crowds."  
  
"You don't really notice them after you start fighting." Goku began to laugh and grin widely. "You could always just imagine everyone out there in their underwear!"   
  
"Thanks but no thanks." Colleen chuckled.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Welcome to the World Martial Arts Tournament!" the announcer in the suit yelled. The crowd began to cheer loudly. Like   
a wave of thunder their voices passed over the stadium.  
  
"For our first match we have the previous champion, Tien!"(I'm assuming that the last tournament is the one Tien won.) The crowd again went into an uproar, and   
Tien walked into the ring with his arms folded.  
  
"His competitor is a young, but spunky girl, Colleen!" Small cheers could be heard, but mostly the crowd was silent. When Colleen stepped into the ring, people started to mumble.   
  
"Hey! She's just a kid! Get her out of the ring!" A man yelled somewhere in the crowd behind her. The rest of the crowd started booing and some threw straws and paper cups at the ring.  
  
'Oh, I'm feeling the love in this place.' Colleen thought sarcastically.  
  
"Shut up, jerk!" a female voice shouted. Colleen turned around and there was a ticked off Bulma beating a guy in the head with her purse. Standing by her was   
Yajerobe, who'd gotten beaten by some karate guy, Oolong, Puar, and Master Roshi.  
  
"Now, you all know the rules." The announcer said. "Take your positions!"  
  
Both Tien and Colleen crouched down into fighting positions. They were staring at each other with scowls on their faces. Piccolo stepped up behind the stone door-like   
structure leading out to the ring.(What is that??) This match wouldn't be all that exciting. He knew she'd wipe the floor with that wimp.  
  
"BEGIN!!"   
  
Colleen and Tien both lunged at each other and looked as if they'd collide. As Tien punched Colleen in the face, she suddenly disappeared. She reappeared behind him   
and kicked him in the side. Tien went flying for the edge of the ring, and barely saved himself by floating just inches from the ground. He flew up high in the sky   
and aimed a hand at Colleen's head below.  
  
"I don't know who to root for." Bulma said.  
  
"I'm rootin' for Tien. That way when she's hurt, I can rescue her." Oolong said with a perverted smile on his face.   
  
"Ugh, you are the most disgusting man on the planet, Oolong." Bulma sneered.   
  
In Tien's hand a ki ball had formed. He let it go and smirked to himself knowing a little girl would never be able to block that. As the ball raced for Colleen's   
head, she just stood there unfazed. When it got within 5 inches of her face, her eyes glowed red and the ki ball stopped in it's tracks. Tien hovered in the air   
with a baffled look on his face.  
  
'How did she do that?!' he thought.  
  
"Oh Tien!" Colleen shouted from the ring. The ki ball then changed it's form from a ball to a sharp spike. "I do believe this is yours!" she smirked and the ki   
spike shot up at him.  
  
Tien barely escaped the spike of energy as it flew by him in a rocket of light. He turned to the side quickly, but the edge of the spike hit his chest leaving a   
long cut across it. Colleen then appeared out of thin air in front of him and punched him hard on the side of the face. Just as he was about to hit the ring from   
the impact, Colleen grabbed his foot so he was upside down. He looked up at her and frowned. He brought his hand up quickly and fired a ki blast at her. She   
just caught it in her hand and smiled.  
  
"You're gonna have to do a _lot_ better than that, sugar." She said in a southern accent. She closed her fist holding the ki ball and it disintegrated.   
  
"I will!!" Tien shouted and kicked her in the head with his free foot. He did a back flip in the air and faced her. Colleen's head was sideways from the kick.   
She slowly turned her head to face him. The side of her mouth that the kick had been blown was red and her bottom lip was cut, blood trickling down her chin.  
  
She smiled and rubbed her jaw. "Now that what I'm talking about." She flew at him with great speed and elbowed him in the gut. He doubled over in pain, spitting   
up a little blood. She brought her hands up in a fist over her head and connected it to his back. He went plummeting towards the earth and landed outside of the   
ring, a small crater forming where he hit the ground.  
  
Colleen gracefully floated down in the center of the ring with her arms crossed. She would've smirked, but her mouth hurt too much.  
  
The announcer stood there with a blank look on his face and the crowd was deadly silent. He then snapped out of it and ran over to Colleen and lifted her arm.  
  
"The winner!!" He yelled into his microphone. The crowd roared and cheered. Colleen looked over to where Bulma was. She was jumping up and down, and gave Colleen   
a thumbs up. She smiled, then winced as her cut made itself known again. She walked out of the ring and over to Piccolo. He was leaning on the wall smirking.  
  
"Nice job. You could've gotten rid of him sooner, though."  
  
Colleen wiped the blood from her chin. "Yea, well. I wanted to have a little fun with him first. I think I've been hanging around you too long."  
  
"Just remember, it gets harder from here." He warned.  
  
"I know." She smirked and took in a sharp breath. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find the first-aid kit. He's not very powerful, but it still hurts when he kicks you in the mouth."  
  
Piccolo laughed quietly as she walked off. He looked over to the other end of the room where Goku was helping Tien into the room and smiled evilly.  
  
'You're next Son Goku.' He thought. 'Nothing can stop me from killing you.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I forgot to include in the disclaimer; I do not own Oprah, those little annoying songs, or a southern accent.   
  
This was my first time writing action, I hope I didn't suck too bad. And I hope I got everything right about scenery and everything so far. Like I said, I've never   
seen those episodes before. Thanks again to dlgsprincess105. You're a life saver! 


	10. Decisions of Loss

Disclaimer: Ya know, I don't know why we even bother to put these stupid things up here. I mean, if we _did_ own all of the characters and the show, do you _really_ think we'd spend our time here? Didn't think so.  
  
A/N: Hi y'all! Guess what? I am proud to say I received my very first flame! Yep, I gots one all right. 'Why am I not mad?' you ask. Because, frankly, I think it's sort of a part of the initiation process of Authordom. I mean, you can't get everyone to like everything you do, so you just have to deal with what other people say without throwing a hissy-fit.  
  
I'll be happy to explain all the flaming parts of the flame to that flamer. First off, it's unrealistic because it's fanFICTION! Not real, FICTION!! Secondly, I _did_ say that I was going to make Piccolo very OOC around me. Third, that scene was added for comedic effect. And fourth, I don't take it offensively.  
  
Also, back in chapter 7 I mentioned a certain character, Lady Siortine, which has not been mentioned since in the story. I am here to assure you that she in fact _does_ play a very important role in this fic and it will be revealed very soon.  
  
Erin: A-huh.  
Cat: Hey! How'd you get in here?  
Erin: I walked through the door. I'm the reviewer who physically talks to you. So it is my duty to make sure you do your job, so I'll be spending more quality time with you.   
Cat: *in an unexcited voice* Oh, yippee.  
Erin: So you were saying about this character...  
Cat: Oh yes. Her role in the story will be revealed in chapter 12.   
  
::Note:: Piccolo's Girl has a really cool story up called 'Twisted Dimensions'. It's about the Buu saga, and the Authors and Authoresses of FF.net. She needs YOUR help to make her story, for without you, she doesn't have any characters. You can see the first chapter for details, but I know for a fact that there are some pairings. Maybe not romantic, but ya get to be w/ the character you like, so who's complaining? There are plenty of PICCOLO, VEGETA, TRUNKS, GOKU and many more character openings to be filled. And maybe for you guys (if you're nice) she may get you a girl. So go and check it out, K?  
  
  
Now, enjoy (or not) chapter 10!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
"And the winner is....Goku!!" The announcer yelled into his microphone. The crowd cheered with excitement and stood out of their seats.  
  
Goku went over to the edge of the ring and picked his competitor up in his strongly muscled arms.  
  
"Remember," his competitor says. "You promised, and you can't back out of it."  
  
"Don't worry, ChiChi. I said I'd marry you and I will." Goku said grinning widely.  
  
"Oh, Goku!" ChiChi squeals and hugs his neck tightly kicking her legs.  
  
Goku walked himself and his new bride-to-be over to the backstage area of the ring where everyone is happily waiting to greet and congratulate the new couple. Well, everyone except Piccolo of course 'cause he's a party-pooper.   
  
ChiChi hopped out of Goku's arms and ran up to Colleen and they both started squealing like teenage girls, which they were.  
  
Colleen hugged ChiChi's neck. "Ah! I can't believe it, you two are getting married!"  
  
"I know! This is the best day of my life!" ChiChi stopped hugging Colleen and looked off to the side with her hands clasped and starts in her eyes. "We'll have a big wedding out in the open with hundreds of flowers. I can see my wedding dress now."   
  
ChiChi closed her eyes. "We'll live in a small house in the middle of nowhere so we can be together forever. We'll have lots of kids, and maybe a pet, or two, or three! Oh, I can't wait to start the rest of my life with him!"   
  
Colleen smiled at her, though not very much because the cut on her lip still hurt. Both of the girls turned their heads behind them towards the door when they heard screaming from down the hall. Bulma came storming in and started screaming and jumping up and down.  
  
"You're getting married, you're getting married!! How dare you get married before me!" she said teasingly. "I'll only forgive you if you make me a bride's maid!"  
  
"Of course you'll be my bride's maid!" ChiChi said and grabbed both Bulma and Colleen by their shoulders and hugged them. "You'll both be!" All the girls started to giggle and ramble on about the wedding, and the clothes, and other wedding type things.  
  
Krillin sweat dropped. "Man, girls are weird." He said scratching the back of his head. Piccolo was not too far away looking at the group of girls, mainly Colleen. It was amusing watching her giggle and ramble with her girl friends, the only girl friends she had here. He frowned and looked away closing his eyes.   
  
"For our next battle, we have everyone's favorite monk, Krillin against........uh, MaJunior!" The crowd started cheering again.  
  
"Well, I guess it's our turn to fight." Krillin said nervously to Piccolo. "Hey, you awake?" He asked seeing Piccolo's eyes closed and reached up to tap him on the shoulder.  
  
Piccolo's hand shot out to grab Krillin's wrist before it touched his shoulder. "Don't touch." He said without opening his eyes.  
  
"Right-o!" Krillin said, pulled his hand away and quickly ran to the ring.  
  
Piccolo was soon to follow and made his way into the ring. When he stepped into view, the cheering died down and the crowd just stared at him.  
  
"Ahhhh.......ahem, our two competitors!!" the announcer said. The crowd was still silent, but you could hear a whistle here and there.  
  
Piccolo and Krillin faced each other. Krillin crouched down in a tiger position, while Piccolo just stood there looking bored.  
  
"BEGIN!"  
  
Krillin charged Piccolo, running towards him. Piccolo retracted his arm in preparation for a punch, but before the little monk came close enough, Krillin dropped down leaning on one leg with the other sticking out past Piccolo's ankles. He brought his foot around kicking Piccolo's feet out from under him. Piccolo started to fall, but did a back flip and landed on his hands. He pushed himself off and flew at Krillin at a great speed. Krillin, still in a crouched position, quickly rolled to the side as Piccolo's fist connected with the cement floor of the ring, cracking it a little.   
  
Krillin flew up off the ring and Piccolo followed in hot pursuit, fangs bared. Krillin saw Piccolo headed towards him and panicked.  
  
'What am I supposed to do now?!' he yelled in his head. He had a great plan to thwart Piccolo once he learned he would be facing him. Unfortunately for him, he had just forgotten it all at that moment and his head was blank.  
  
He kept staring at the fast approaching Piccolo and put his arm up in a defensive position and closed his eyes tightly.  
  
'This is going to hurt.' He thought dolefully.  
  
Piccolo flew up to the cowering baldy. Instead of flying into him, he flew around him until he was directly behind him and punched him hard in the back of the neck. Krillin went flying towards the earth and connected to it.(I know I made their fight a LOT shorter than it actually was, but I need to save space for the rest of the story, cause if I don't, it'll be impossibly long!)  
  
Piccolo smirked as he looked down upon his beaten foe. His smirk soon faded, however, because Krillin had failed to get up. He hadn't even twitched since he slammed into the ground.  
  
'Oh crap! I killed him!' Piccolo thought. 'I _cannot_ be disqualified!' He pinched the bridge of his nose. 'This cannot happen!'  
  
The spectators in the backstage area looked on in shock and fear as their friend failed to get up. Bulma had her hands clasped over her mouth, her eyes wide. ChiChi was next to Goku and was squeezing his hand, her head leaning on his shoulder. Goku's eyes had a look of complete horror as he watched his friend's still body.  
  
"Krillin!" he yelled and started to run towards his friend. Colleen, who was by the entrance to the arena, put her hand out in front of Goku's chest as he was about to exit the stage area.  
  
"He's fine." She said.  
  
Goku looked down at her, out to Krillin and back to her again with a look of worry on his face.  
  
"Trust me." She said lowering her arm. "Just let the medical team check him out. You'll see."  
  
"I hope you're right."  
  
A group of men in white rushed over to Krillin with a stretcher and a red box with a white cross on it. One of the men opened the box and took out a package. He opened it and pulled one of the smelling salts out and put it under Krillin's nose.....or nostrils, or whatever the heck he smells with! You know, at some points they say he has no nose, but yet he can smell. And sometimes they say he can't. Does this make any sense to anyone???   
  
Erin: A-hem!  
  
Cat: Whoops! Going off track, sorry!  
  
Krillin's eyes fluttered a little and he slowly opened his eyes to where they were half lidded. His vision was blurry, so all he saw was white.  
  
"Hey, did anyone catch the license plate number on that 747?" he asked almost drunkenly. "Oh look, snow flakes!" he said pointing to the men around him. "Ehehehehe!"  
  
One of the men put his arm up signaling that Krillin was okay, for the most part. The crowd cheered and everyone in the stage area, stands, and even floating in the air heaved a huge sigh of relief.  
  
"That was too close." Piccolo said floating down onto the concrete.  
  
The men in white (hehe...MIW instead of MIB!) put Krillin on the stretcher and proceeded to carry him backstage.  
  
"Krillin, you're okay!" Goku exclaimed as he ran to the side of his friend.  
  
"Hehe, there are four Goku's!" Krillin said.  
  
Goku sweat-dropped. "Is he going to be all right?" he asked one of the medical men pointing to his delusional friend who was looking at his hand going in front of his face and laughing.  
  
The man shrugged. "Maybe. I only do this part time, I'm not really a doctor." He got up to Goku's ear. "Shh, it's a secret. I only said I was for the benefits!" he chuckled and walked off. Goku face-faulted and fell over anime-style.  
  
The little nerdy man Shen walked up to Colleen who was staring out at the ring. He was wearing a purple outfit. "You've been doing very good in your fights, my dear."  
  
Colleen glanced at him. "Thanks. You're not so bad yourself."  
  
"I'm just lucky!" the man exclaimed and started laughing. Colleen looked at him funny. He saw her look and went serious again. Colleen rolled her eyes and went back to looking out at the crowd.  
  
"Soooooo, you nervous about facing Goku?" he asked.  
  
"Not really. I know how it'll turn out." She answered coolly.  
  
"Really now? You think you'll win? I like confidence in a girl." He said and smiled.   
  
"No offense, but you're a crappy flirt." Colleen said.  
  
"I wasn't trying to flirt, just talk. You've faired pretty well through your stay here in a word you don't know. I commend you." He said and walked away.   
  
Colleen turned to him with a puzzled look on her face. "What does that mean? Hey, I'm talking to you!" she yelled as he walked away.   
  
'How did he know I'm not from here?' she thought. Then it struck her like a ton of bricks. 'I'm such an idiot! How could I not have seen it earlier?! It was so obvious, how he knew each of us so well, his fighting style, the nerdy way he acts!'  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen! We now have our final two matches. Goku vs. Colleen, and Shen vs. MaJunior!" The crowd cheered loudly. "First up.....Colleen and Goku!!"  
  
Goku walked out of the backstage and into the ring. Colleen started walking for the exit when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up. It was Piccolo, and he was staring down at her with intensity in his eyes.  
  
{Be careful.} he telepathically said.  
  
Colleen smiled up at him. {Aren't I always?} She started to walk, but Piccolo kept a firm grasp on her.  
  
{I mean it.} he said more forcefully. {Goku is not one to be underestimated.}  
  
{I will be careful, I promise. I'll fight the best I know how. I shouldn't be underestimated either. I had a great teacher, ya know.} she said back.  
  
Piccolo smirked. {I wanted to be the one to defeat Goku. But if you beat the shit out of him, it wouldn't hurt my feelings any.}  
  
Colleen laughed. "See you after the match." She said and walked away into the ring.   
  
"Yes I will." Piccolo said. He flew up to the roof of the temple and sat at he edge to see the match better.  
  
"All right, fighters... take your positions!" the announcer said.  
  
Colleen and Goku both went into fight stances. Goku had a smirk on his face and determination in his eyes. Colleen was glaring at him with a serious expression on her face. They both looked at each other for a long time from each other's side of the ring. A very long time. 5 minutes went by before Colleen looked to the announcer.  
  
"Say go already!" she yelled.  
  
"What? OH, sorry! BEGIN!!" the announcer said and sheepishly grinned.   
  
Colleen and Goku both charged in the air yelling battle cries. They both pulled back their right arms in preparation to punch. They met head on and their forearms grinded against each other as they floated in the middle of the ring. They were both pushing, trying to get the upper hand, but for now they were evenly matched.   
  
Goku pulled his left arm to the side and formed a ki blast in his hand. He brought it up and brought his hand down aiming for Colleen's head. It was about to connect with her head but she caught it in her left hand and quickly smashed it against Goku's face. He wend flying sideways a few feet, but was unhurt. Colleen flew at him before he could recover his composure and started punching and kicking. She made a few good hits, but Goku soon regained his footing and started fighting back. They were both making more blocks than hits. Then Goku saw an opening and kicked Colleen in the gut. She let out a cry and stumbled in the air going backwards.   
  
Goku charged again aiming his fist at Colleen's face. She grabbed his arm and swung around his back pinning his arm. She reached her other arm around his neck and held him in a choke hold. He brought his head forward and smashed the back of his head into the front of Colleen's face. She was stunned, but she didn't let go. Blood started to trickle from the top of her forehead down her face.   
  
"Come on, Goku! I know you can fight harder than this!" Colleen yelled. "Fight harder!"   
  
"You're wish is my command." He said and prepared to dislodge himself from her grasp. He thought that it would be easy. He started to try and pull away, but her grip was too firm. He started wiggling and kicking his feet, but he couldn't get free. There was only one way out of this.  
  
'Oh well.' Goku thought. 'It's not like it's against the rules.'  
  
Goku brought his free arm and held onto Colleen's arm around his neck. He opened his mouth so wide you could see his teeth from the stands, and brought his mouth down on her exposed flesh.   
  
Colleen's eyes widened and her eyes began to water. Then she let out a big cream. "Ahhhhh! He bit me!! He-bit-me-he-bit-me-he-BIT-me!!!!!" She let go and rubbed her throbbing arm.  
  
Goku flew to the opposite side of the ring and stared at Colleen laughing.   
  
"That was cheep!" she yelled.  
  
"Cheep though it may have been," Goku started and held out one extended finger. "It wasn't against the rules!" and he smiled a big cheesy grin.   
  
"You'll pay for that!" That was the only warning Goku got before Colleen flew over to him and kicked him in the head. She chased him as he flew. He turned around and round-housed her in the shoulder. She started to turn, but came back with a hard kick to the chest, knocking the wind from him.  
  
He disappeared and reappeared behind her. He put his hands up her sides, pulled her arms back and held his hands behind her head. Colleen wiggled and writhed, but couldn't get loose. Goku then turned them upside down and started a kamikaze dive toward the ground.  
  
Piccolo looked on from his spot on the roof and watched the heated battle. Colleen was good, there was no question about that. That dive-bomb attack wouldn't affect her much. He watched as she spun them around at the last second and Goku's back hit the concrete. He smirked. She would wipe the floor with him. Goku didn't know it, but she was just toying with him. Just wait until he saw her TRUE power.  
  
Colleen and Goku both slowly started to stand up. Colleen took a fighting stance as Goku was still trying to catch his breath.  
  
"Colleen?" he asked tiredly.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"It's really hot out here, would you mind if I took off some of my gi?" he said fanning himself.  
  
Colleen quirked an eyebrow. "I don't care." She relaxed and stood with her arms crossed as Goku started to peel some of the clothes off his back. First was his shirt, then his armbands. He hopped from one foot to the other as he took his boots and socks off.  
  
"Much better!" he exclaimed. "Here, catch!" he said and threw the pile of clothes to Colleen.  
  
She caught the discarded material, and nearly lost her balance. All of the clothes together had to weigh over 200 lbs.! She threw the clothes over the side of the ring where it left a little indentation in the ground.  
  
"Heavy, huh?" Goku asked smiled.  
  
"Just a little." Colleen answered smirking. "I guess this means I'll have an actual challenge to work with." She said and put a hand on her hip. She may have been acting coolly, but in her mind she knew she was in big dog doo-doo.  
  
Without warning Goku attacked her with a speed almost too fast for the normal person to see. But she saw it, and dodged his attack. He stopped and turned around to see where she'd gone off to, but she wasn't there. She was everywhere. After images spun all around him with her laughing filling the air.  
  
"What's the matter Goku?" her voice echoed. "Can't find me?" She started chuckling.  
  
Goku tried finding the real her by sensing her energy, but it was all around him. How she ever managed to do that was beyond him.   
  
She suddenly stopped in front of him and lunged at him before he had time to react. She jumped in the air and wrapped her legs around Goku's neck and proceeded to punch him repeatedly in the face. When she was finished punching, she loosened her grip on his neck, leaned back and fell gracefully, with her legs still around his neck, with her arms out stretched to reach the ground. When her ankles caught on his neck, she reached all the way to the ground to flip him, only to be 2" short of her destination. Her eyes grew wide. Her fingers wiggled trying to reach, but they couldn't even grace the ground with a single touch.  
  
'Damn my shortness!' she yelled in her head.   
  
"Oh Colleen." Goku said from above her.  
  
Colleen lifted her head up to see Goku smiling evilly and waving.  
  
She gulped. 'This can't be good.'  
  
Goku took her by the ankles and started to spin. He spun faster and faster, and started flying higher and higher. Colleen's vision was now a blur of colors and lines. Her stomach felt queasy and the color in her face drained.  
  
'Oh God, I'm gonna be sick!' she thought and brought her hand to her mouth.  
  
Goku finally stopped spinning her, but threw her instead. She stopped herself from landing on the ground in a standing position. Goku started to charge her again. He went right up to her, but stopped as she clutched her stomach with one hand and held the other in front of her.  
  
"Just give me a minute, okay?" she asked and hiccuped.  
  
Goku slowly floated over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, are you all right? You don't look so hot."  
  
Colleen nodded and rode out the wave of nausea. Once it was over, she realized that Goku was very vulnerable and this would be the perfect time to attack. Her eyes glinted and she put on a smirk not unlike that of Piccolo's. She abruptly straightened up and kicked him in the face, sending him back a few feet.  
  
"You should know better than to let your guard down, Goku." She teased as she floated higher in the air. "Now feast your eyes on my _true_ power!"  
  
She pointed her hand down at Goku in the center of the ring. He looked up at her with curiosity. She smirked and started to power up.   
  
At first it wasn't much, just a dull red glow surrounding her body. Then the red turned into purple, and her eyes glowed red. The purple aura began to grow, swirling slowly around her body in stray waves. The waves began at her feet and traveled up to the center of her outstretched palm. Yellow sparks began to fly around her and her brown hair billowed as if she were under water. A large purple ki ball formed in her hand.   
  
Goku started up at her in awe at the display of power. He couldn't believe it. Just a few months ago, she couldn't do much more than fly and throw a ki blast or two. Her strength had more than doubled as well. He was snapped out of his thoughts as Colleen's laughter filled his ears.  
  
"Didn't think I could do anything significant, did you?" she asked and smirked even more.   
  
Goku couldn't respond. His mouth had suddenly decided to become the Sahara Desert. He could taste the sand on his tongue. Her appearance was usually so sweet, cute, and pretty. Now that eyes were glowing, and she had energy flowing all around her and smiling evilly.......she was really, really creepy looking!  
  
"Well, since you've obviously lost your voice, I'll be kind and end the silence." Her smirk turned into a large devious smile.  
  
'She sounds so much like Piccolo.' Goku thought. 'And if she's anything like Piccolo in the power department, this is going to sting.'   
  
The ki ball in her hand started to flutter with power. "Now, we end our little game." Colleen said. Her smile turned into a scowl as she yelled, "Psycho Laser Strike!!"  
  
The purple ball of ki shot out from her hand in a flash, looking much like Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon. The balled end turned into a sharp spike as it sped towards Goku. He started to panic. He hadn't expected the blast to be so powerful. All he could do now was put his hands in front of his face and brace himself.  
  
The large purple beam of light hit Goku head on, striking in the dead center of the cross his arms made. He stood against it for a few seconds, then flew backwards yelling. He flipped over a few times before landing on his back and hitting his head on the floor of the ring.  
  
"Yep." He said. "That definitely stung."  
  
His eyes grew wide as Colleen flew right above him and fired several yellow spike-shaped ki blasts at him on the ground. 'Eeee!'   
  
Goku quickly rolled over and powered up. He waited for an onslaught of ki blasts, but the air was still. He looked around for Colleen, but once again she was nowhere in sight.  
  
'Is she related to Houdini, or what?!' Goku thought in his mind. 'I can't sense her power anywhere. How can she do this? Even with suppressing her energy I should be able to feel a trace of it somewhere. It's like she totally disappeared or died or something!'  
  
Piccolo smiled. He loved that new attack of hers. He remembered the first time she tried it on him. It nearly took his head off. But it seemed as if she didn't use the full extent of her power on Goku.  
  
'Hmph. No matter.' He thought. 'Now where did my little student go?' He stretched out his senses expecting to find her somewhere where Goku couldn't sense her. But.....nothing. Not a flicker of her power anywhere for miles.  
  
{Colleen?} he tried telepathically. {Colleen, answer me!}  
  
{*giggle* What's up?} she replied.  
  
{Good, you're still here. Where are you?}  
  
{That's for me to know, and you to find out! Pretty cool, huh? I just found out I could totally disappear a few days ago.}   
  
Piccolo couldn't see her, but he knew she was smiling. {Why do you not use your full power on him?}  
  
{What do you mean? He's a tough opponent, I am using my full power on him.} she said defensively.  
  
{Right. And I believe in the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Clause. _And_ to top it off, I have a secret love of puppy dogs.} he replied sarcastically.  
  
{Piccolo! I never knew you were keeping secrets from me!} she laughed.  
  
Piccolo frowned. {Do you not have a fight to finish?}  
  
{Whoopsie! Well, been really nice talking to you, bubie.} And the mental link was closed.  
  
Piccolo opened his eyes and watched the ring where Goku was still trying to find Colleen. She suddenly appeared behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. When Goku turned around, she socked him in the face, followed him as he tumbled across the ring, and kneed him in the gut. Goku landed on his back with an 'ooph'. He rolled back on his shoulders and kicked up with both feet and landed standing.   
  
Goku stood bruised, yet not even panting from the previous fighting he and Colleen had done. It puzzled him. Colleen was a very strong opponent, yet she seemed to be holding back. Goku couldn't place a finger on it, but it seemed as though she was just giving the crowd and other fighters a show, not fighting to win. In fact, it almost seemed as though she _didn't_ want to win the way she let him get away all the time.   
  
Colleen looked at the questionable look on Goku's face. She knew what he was thinking. She knew he knew she wasn't using all her power just as Piccolo did. She knew she'd passed both of them over a month ago, but didn't want them, especially Piccolo, to find out. She knew he wanted her to be powerful, but telling him exactly how powerful she was would give his ego a really big kick in the groin, and she didn't want to crush it anymore than it had to be. She knew she had to loose. Winning would be an option with a high price: the dimension's space-time continuum. She'd changed many, many things by even just being present in their world, but certain things she didn't even dare to attempt to change.  
  
Colleen sighed. All this responsibility was supposed to be for Kami, not a 14-year-old fangirl! But now was not the time to think about that. Now was the time to give Goku a good fight, then loose.   
  
She powered up and charged Goku again. Punches and kicks were thrown and blocked. Colleen knew she had dragged the fight on long enough. Now was the time to back down.   
  
'The tricky thing is backing down subtly.' She thought as she blocked a potential kick to the head.   
  
Goku threw punch after punch, but just couldn't find a weak spot in Colleen's defense. Then, as if his wish were granted, a very wide and obvious opening appeared. Goku took it without a second thought. He kicked her legs out from under her and she fell to the ground with a thud. He brought his foot up, and then down onto her neck, just hard enough to trap her not cut off her air supply. She immediately grabbed at his ankle "trying" to pry it off. Seeing the position would go nowhere, Goku released her to let her get up.   
  
Colleen stood rubbing her neck. Loosing was going to be painful, but it was the only way. She ran at him, and got kicked in the stomach. She flew up, and he followed her. He got behind her and brought both fists down on her back. She went falling and hit the concrete, but got up again. She flew back upwards and began a futile attack. Everything she dished out, he easily blocked.   
  
He kicked her in the side and she went falling towards the edge of the ring. He floated down across from her and they started a staring contest.   
  
"Why aren't you trying?" Goku asked.  
  
"I don't know what you mean, Goku." She said back.  
  
Goku sighed and brought both of his hands to his side. "Well, if you won't try your hardest, I'll just end the fight now." He brought both of the heels of his hands together and began to chant, "Ka....me....ha....me...."  
  
'You have to loose, don't block it. You have to loose, don't block it..." Colleen kept repeating in her head. This was going to hurt a lot.  
  
"Ha!!" The beam of blue light sped toward Colleen as she stood her ground with her arms placed firmly at her sides. She tensed and closed her eyes waiting for the burning process to begin.  
  
'What is she doing?!?!' Piccolo yelled in his head and stood up on the roof. "Block it!" he yelled. But she didn't seem to hear.   
  
The ki beam collided into her head on and knocked her into the wall outside of the ring. When the beam disintegrated she fell to the ground and didn't get up. On the wall behind her was a deep impression with many little cracks coming out of the center.  
  
The whole ring was silent. Did they just see what they thought they saw? The announcer snapped to and ordered a medical team to attend to her right away. He wasn't declaring a winner until he knew everyone was alive. The little team of people in white came out and surrounded her and checked her out. One of the men went up to the announcer to speak into the microphone. Everyone held their breath, especially Piccolo, Goku, Bulma, and surprisingly, Shen.  
  
"She got quite a hit, but she'll be fine." He said. Everyone let out a sigh of relief and cheered.   
  
"That means that Goku is our winner!!" The announcer yelled. The crowd cheered, and Colleen was put onto a stretcher and taken into the backstage area.   
  
Piccolo jumped off the roof and walked over to where the medical people were with Colleen. He went up to see her, but one of them stepped in his way.  
  
"Sir, we're working on her, so could you please give us a minute?" he said.  
  
Piccolo snarled and bared his fangs. The man gulped. "Of course, what could it hurt, right?" he said and laughed nervously as Piccolo passed him.   
  
Colleen was laying down with her hand on her head. She opened an eye when Piccolo approached.  
  
"How do you feel?" he asked.  
  
"....owe..." was all she could reply. Piccolo sighed. She was bruised, bloody, burnt and covered in dirt, but she was okay. He helped her into a sitting position facing him with her legs over the side of the stretcher. She lost some of her balance from a wave of dizziness and fell forward. Piccolo caught her and she rested on his chest her arms around his waist with her eyes closed.  
  
"Why didn't you block it?" he suddenly asked. "Why did you deliberately loose?"  
  
She looked up at him. "Time tells all tales." She slowly slid down and stood. "Mmmm.......and Morphine kills all pain, so be a dear and get me tank."  
  
Piccolo put her back on the table and summoned one of the medical team to her. He walked over to Goku who was smiling and talking with his friends. They all stopped talking when they noticed his hateful glare at Goku.  
  
"You _will_ pay for that." He said. "Mark my words, you will pay."  
  
"Piccolo," Goku said light-heartedly. "We both know she lost on purpose. There's no reason to get sore about it."  
  
Piccolo turned around and spoke over his shoulder without turning his head. "Freiceadan bhur droim tì.(1)" he said coldly in his native demon tongue.  
  
ChiChi shivered and hugged onto Goku's arm. "I don't like that creep one bit." She said.  
  
"Neither do I." Yamcha said.  
  
"He's not that bad once you get to know him." Bulma said. "In fact, he's actually pretty nice when he lets his guard down."  
  
ChiChi stared at her in disbelief. "Nice?! There's no way that......that......._thing_ could be nice! Honestly, I have no idea what you and Colleen could possibly see in that guy to want to be his friend."  
  
"You just have to trust and respect him and he'll almost, sorta, kinda, maybe be nice to you." Bulma replied.  
  
"Trust that monster? You actually _trust_ him? With your life?" ChiChi asked.  
  
"Well, maybe not with my life, but-"  
  
"See! No one can trust that hideous person! _If_ you could even call him a person." ChiChi put up her index finger. "If you can name one person, _one person_, that trusts him with their life, maybe I'll reconsider what I think of him." She crossed her arms over her chest in triumph.  
  
"Well, Chi, I guess you're going to have to change your views then." Colleen walked up to the group and said. "'Cause I trust him with all my heart and soul." She was no longer covered in blood and dirt, and had a large bandage above her right eye and on her left bicep.   
  
  
"You would." ChiChi said and Bulma giggled.  
  
"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Colleen asked putting her hands on her hips.  
  
"Oh, you know." Bulma said and batted her eyelashes.   
  
Colleen quirked an eyebrow. "Okaaay. I'm just gonna be over there by Pic if that's fine with you guys." She said and walked over to Piccolo and sat next to him on the floor.  
  
"So, what does she know that we also know?" Goku asked and scratched his head.  
  
Everyone groaned. ChiChi kissed the confused man on the cheek. "It's a good thing you're cute Goku." She said.  
  
Goku smiled. "Thanks!" and he kissed her on her forehead.  
  
Piccolo and Colleen sat side-by-side on the far side of the room secluded from anyone else. Colleen looked at his stone hard expression and sighed.  
  
"I know I let you down," she said. "But believe me, it was for the better."  
  
"Explain to me exactly how it was for the better, Colleen. Tell me something, anything, why you do the things you do." He said.  
  
"I cannot tell you everything. You know that because of where I'm from I know things that will affect this world now and in the future. Besides, _you_ have the rivalry with Goku, not me. He's my friend, but your enemy. It is _you_ who should fight him. Plus, winning this tournament isn't all that important. I mean, what's 10 million dollars anyway?" she said and smiled.  
  
He said nothing but continues to stare at nothing. "Just trust me, okay?" she asked.  
  
"I do trust you. I just don't understand you. You gave up the chance to defeat one of the strongest men in the world, whom you know you could beat easily. You are the weirdest person I have ever met."  
  
"You flatter me, kind sir." She said and laughed.  
  
Piccolo just shook his head. 'It could be worse.' He reminded himself. 'She could have won and would have had to face me.'  
  
"Attention!" the announcer said and everyone in and out of the stands turned in his direction. "The next match will begin in just a few minutes. Ma Junior vs. Shen!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(1)= guard your back human  
  
Long enough for ya? Well, it certainly took long enough for me to get my butt in gear! Sorry bout that. I had to fight with a case of Writer's Block. But I won over it. Nothing can beat me, BWAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!  
Erin: A-hem!  
Cat: Oh yes, thank you to Erin for letting me borrow you. You're so nice, I hope you don't mind. If you do, it's not like you can do anything about it now.  
Erin: Thanks so much.  
Cat: Your welcome!   
  
Remember, visit Piccolo's Girl's story and sign up for the fun! I promise to have chapter 11 out soon.  
Erin: I'll make sure she keeps it. ^_~  
Cat: So till next time.......  
Cat and Erin: Ja-Ne Minna-san!! 


	11. It is Over

I AM SO SORRY!!! *cries* I just had so much... ...with school, marching band and family issues and... … And the writer's block … …I'm so sorry!!!!*bawls* I have been so incredibly busy it's not funny. I had no time to write whatsoever. Things have been so hectic around here. Not to mention I redid this chapter like three times before I got it the way I wanted it!  
  
*^_^* But I'm back now! My computer is fritzing out, that's what the main cause of the delay was. The Blackout didn't help out either. We were hauling 7-gallon barrels of water up and down the stairs for two days. Not fun.   
  
Oh, I'd like to thank Demona who sent me the VERY detailed e-mail on the World Martial Arts Tournament. It helped SO MUCH! You are a life saver, and should be rewarded! *throws her pixie stix and cookies*   
  
And thank you to The-Obsessive-One, formerly known as Erin for getting me off my behind. She's an authoress and one of my best friends. She doesn't write DBZ (:p), but ALIAS. So if you like that show, check her out WHEN she gets it out. _When_ being the appropriate word here. (Get ur butt movin' grl![like I should talk!])  
  
But enough about all this stuff, you did not come here to hear me ramble on and on about how my life sucks and all the excuses I'm throwing at you. You're here to read the chapter. The chapter that's taken 9 months to get out. -_-;; I'm still very sorry!   
  
It was found out that Shen was actually Kami inside a human host. Goku and he had had a talk of what Goku should do should he fail to defeat Piccolo. After their talk, Shen walked over to the ring to face Piccolo. (I'm speeding this up so I can get everything in. Sorry if it's confusing.)   
  
The battle with Shen and Piccolo was a short one. They exchanged minimal blows, none of which inflicting any damage to either fighter. They just stood there…staring at each other. Everyone in the crowd and backstage was getting anxious. Even Colleen, who knew pretty much of what was to happen from here on out, was getting restless for something—ANYTHING—to happen.  
  
Great looks of hatred crossed between the two fighters in the ring. They were each waiting for the other to make the first move and attack. This would be tricky, however, since any injuries inflicted by one of them would in turn show up on their body. It was really a no-win situation.  
  
Not being able to stand the complete silence anymore, Shen finally spoke. "It seems that neither one of us can win by force."  
  
"Gee, you figure that out all by yourself?" Piccolo sarcastically replied.  
  
Shen ignored him and continued on. "Did your abomination of a father pass on the memory of how I encased him two-hundred years ago?"  
  
Piccolo raised an eyeridge and dropped out of his fighting stance. "Encased?"  
  
Shen smirked. "No. Well, then, I believe a demonstration is in order." He took a small blue, glass bottle out of his coat.  
  
Piccolo immediately understood, as did all of the onlookers in the backstage area… …except Goku, of course.  
  
"What is Kami doing with that bottle?" he asked Colleen, who was standing by his left side, ChiChi on his right.  
  
"I had completely forgotten about this!" She exclaimed. "He's going to try and trap Piccolo in that bottle like he did Diamoa all those years ago before he broke out and you killed him. That baka!!"  
  
As Piccolo gazed upon the little blue bottle, memories of his father suppressed in the very back of his mind started to resurface. The memory of his father's body being shrunken and twisted; pulled and drawn into the vortex the small blue bottle created around its lid.   
  
He shook the memory out of his head. Having that done to him didn't sound very appealing. There had to be some way to counteract it.   
  
'But how?' he thought. From the recesses of his mind, something was tugging at him, telling him something.  
  
His thoughts were broken when Kami's voice (not Shen's) rang out to everyone present.  
  
"Now it is time to put you in your rightful place!" He took the cork out of the top of the bottle and yelled "Mafuu-ba!!"  
  
A bright, white beam of light shot out of the top of the bottle, headed straight for Piccolo. He tried desperately to remember what was trying to make itself known to him, but was failing. Colleen was going nuts on the sideline. She looked on clutching her hair by the fistful waiting for Piccolo to react. Why wasn't he doing anything? Didn't he know what that beam of light would do to him once it touched him? She just couldn't take the suspense any longer.  
  
{Counter it Piccolo!!} She screamed telepathically.  
  
{How?!}  
  
{Just yell what Kami said back before the beam hits you! Hurry!!}  
  
'Here goes nothing.' Piccolo thought. He extended his left hand and braced himself for the tortures of being sucked into a very tiny living space, just in case Colleen was wrong.  
  
The beam was just inches from his hand now. The body that Kami inhabited finally gave out and Kami's soul was released. Shen fell to the ground in a dead faint as in his place stood the wrinkly old Guardian. His freedom would be short lived, however, as Piccolo yelled out the Mafuu-ba and the light beam turned 180° in Kami's direction. He had no time to react as the light hit him in the chest and his body started to shrink and twist to accommodate to the new little space he'd be occupying. His body was pulled into the little bottle like a genie. The cork flew over to the bottle and secured itself in the lid, and that was that.  
  
Goku, Tien, Yamcha, and all the others backstage stared wide eyed at what they witnessed. Piccolo, the son of the Demon King, had just imprisoned Kami, the Guardian of Earth. The only one who didn't look like they would faint was Colleen. She had the biggest smile played across her face as the announcer shakily proclaimed Piccolo was the winner. She walked over to the ring and picked up the bottle where a miniature Kami was yelling and pounding on the glass.   
  
"I like him better like this." She said smiling.  
  
"As do I." Piccolo said smirking evilly. "Give me the bottle."  
  
She did as he said and handed Kami, who was still banging on the glass, over to Piccolo. He took it and tossed it in his hand a couple times admiring the way Kami could bounce. Then he took the bottle up to his face, stared a dizzy little Kami in the eyes…and swallowed him. Colleen's eyes grew wide as dinner plates and she pointed at Piccolo moving her mouth, but no words could come out. Piccolo looked at her, her mouth opening and closing like a bass on a hook, with an utterly disgusted look on her face.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Oh…nothing. Just the first time I've seen someone SWALLOW someone else. That's all." She shakily walked out of the ring with a blank look on her face. Piccolo watched her walk away and shrugged.  
  
The Z warriors and the girls were looking on wide-eyed and didn't even register Colleen's presence when she walked back in the small room and sat next to Bulma. After a few seconds, Bulma spoke. "Did…did he…did he just…"  
  
"Swallow Kami?" Colleen asked. Bulma nodded. "Yep."  
  
"Oh. O…kay." Everyone was very silent.  
  
"Oh my God! He just swallowed Kami!" Goku yelled in realization. "What do we do?!"  
  
"You're going to have to kill him to get the bottle out." Yamcha said.  
  
"Really, 'cause I'd think it'd be pretty hard to kill Piccolo without killing Kami also." ChiChi said sarcastically.  
  
"Huh?" Yamcha scratched his head.  
  
"Hello! Kami and Piccolo are one in the same! Two halves of one being! One dies, the other dies!" she yelled.  
  
"So then, how does Goku defeat Piccolo and get Kami back without killing them?" Tien asked worriedly.  
  
Everyone turned their eyes to Colleen. She noticed everyone staring and became very nervous. "What's everyone looking at me for?"  
  
"Well…" Krillin started. "You seem to know about a lot of stuff that's happened, before it actually happened."  
  
"And you seem to have a lot of answers for the problems that have been going on for a while." Said Bulma.  
  
Dawning realization hit her. "NO! I mean…I don't know! I mean…do you really think that _I_ will help you defeat Piccolo?! You're crazy! It'd be like ChiChi telling Piccolo how to defeat Goku!"  
  
"So you DO like Piccolo in that way." Bulma pointed out smiling wickedly.  
  
"What? No! I mean, yes! As friends! Not saying no one could like him like that but…grr, stop messing with my head!!" She clutched her head in her hands and walked to the other side of the room. The nerve of them, asking her to give them the knowledge that would bring Kami back and defeat Piccolo! She couldn't remember anyways, but still!  
  
~*~*~  
  
The announcer called a 10 minute recess until the final battle between Goku and Piccolo. Neither of them really needed it and they fidgeted on either side of the room. They stared each other down in an attempt to intimidate the other. No one was backing down from this fight, though. Oh no, they'd waited far too long for this day to come—Piccolo especially. This day would be the last battle between them. One of them was going home the victor; the other probably wasn't going home at all.  
  
Ten minutes had passed quickly and soon the two fighters made their way to the ring, all the while each still staring his opponent straight in the eye. They took their positions across from each other on opposite sides of the ring. Piccolo discarded his cape and turban behind him and crouched down in a fighting position. Goku did the same. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.  
  
The announcer's voice echoed over the deafening silence that engulfed the ring.   
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the moment you've all been waiting for: the final round of the World's Martial Arts Tournament!!"  
  
The crowd roared with excitement and stood out of their seats, giant foam fingers waiving in the air. Parents hoisted their children onto their shoulders for a better view of the fight.  
  
"Fighters, take your places!" They did as instructed.  
  
"Ready?!" They nodded. "BEGIN!!"  
  
The two warriors propelled towards each other at the speed of light. They could no longer be seen because of their great speed. Only loud, brilliant flashes of light indicated where they were above the arena.   
  
"Oh, my poor Goku." ChiChi prayed by the sidelines. "Please come out of this alive."  
  
Bulma let out a worried sigh. "Colleen, they'll both be okay, right?"  
  
Colleen shrugged. "I honestly don't know. A lot of things have changed since I came here, including Piccolo's and Goku's strength. The ball is pretty much in both of their courts."  
  
Bulma let out another worried sigh and played with the little trinkets on her charm bracelet.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Flashes of light still illuminated the ring. No one could tell who had the upper hand—if there was one—in the fight. Not even Colleen could distinctly tell which blast came from whom. All that could be seen was just a flurry of light and color.  
  
Goku was abruptly thrown out of the battle into sight. He landed on his back on the arena floor. He rolled on his shoulders and jumped back on his feet. He flew up into the air and attacked Piccolo with a barrage of punches and kicks.  
  
"Man, look at them go!" commented Krillin.  
  
Piccolo landed a forceful punch to Goku's stomach which sent him back a few feet. Goku retaliated with a roundhouse kick to his shoulder. Piccolo was unfazed, and head butted Goku square between the eyes. Goku's vision went blurry and he shook his head to clear it. Piccolo flew at him head on and tackled him to the ground, putting a few cracks and dents in the stone tile of the ring's floor. Goku swung his arm and knocked Piccolo in the head and off of him. The shot up into the air again and headed for each other. They met in the middle, fore-arms grinding against each other. They stood in the air like that for a long time, using brute force against each other. Goku kneed Piccolo in the gut and he doubled over. Goku then brought his two fists down on his back.  
  
Piccolo fell down to the ring's floor, but stopped before touching the ground. He wiped a small stream of blood running down his chin away with the back of his hand. His dark onyx eyes looked up at Goku and bore through his head. He powered up and charged him once again. The punching and kicking started anew with more force than their previous bout.  
  
Piccolo pulled himself away from Goku long enough to form a powerful ki blast. He aimed and fired. Goku dodged it and prepared a Kamehameha wave powerful enough to kill him.  
  
"Ka…me…ha…me…"  
  
"Goku don't!" Krillin shouted. "If you kill Piccolo, you'll kill Kami!"  
  
Goku reabsorbed the ki blast into his body. He let out an exasperated sigh and his brows came together in a deep frown. This fight was going to be a long and frustrating one. His temper wasn't helped any as Piccolo started to laugh.  
  
"What's so funny?" Goku demanded.  
  
Piccolo smirked. "Oh, nothing. It's just so amusing watching you trying pathetically to come up with some plan to beat me." His smirk turned into an evil smile. "It feels so good to finally be able to enact my revenge upon you for what you did to my father."  
  
It suddenly struck Goku that if he could keep Piccolo talking, he might be able to find out a weakness. Or at the very least, give his friends time to think of something. "What will you do once you've killed me?"  
  
Piccolo arrogantly crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Why, rule the world of course! Take over all the humans you hold so dear and enslave them!"  
  
Goku smiled. "Really?" he asked, extending his thumb towards Colleen. "What about her? She's human."  
  
Piccolo looked down at Colleen. She was looking up at him with a confused look upon her face. He'd never really thought of what would happen to Colleen once he killed Goku and took over the world. His plans were set by the time she showed up. He only just now realized the glitch she caused in his plan.  
  
Colleen was completely puzzled as to why Goku and Piccolo were starting down at her. Piccolo seemed to be concentrating while staring. She quirked an eyebrow and mouthed the question 'what' up to them. They quickly jerked their attention away from her and back to each other.  
  
'That was weird.' She thought.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Goku crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Well, do you have an answer?"  
  
Piccolo thought for a moment. "She'll just rule with me."  
  
"You don't really think she'll just sit by and watch you hurt all those people, do you?"  
  
Piccolo grunted. "She'll do as she's told. She understands what I must do."  
  
Goku shook his head. "Piccolo, even though Colleen cares about you and would probably defend you to the death against any one of us, you and I both know she'd never follow you in your quest for world domination. She has a good heart, and would defend the Earth. You won't like to hear this, but…she's more like us than you. She really doesn't belong with you."  
  
That hit home for Piccolo. It hit hard. He knew there was truth to Goku's words, and that made him all the angrier. "Enough talking! We're here to fight!"  
  
They charge each other again. Ki blasts flew mercilessly toward one another. Finding an open spot, Goku kicked out Piccolo's face. His boot connected with Piccolo's nose, breaking it. He held it in pain, and Goku took this opportunity to hold him in a head lock. Piccolo struggled to break free, but to no avail. His temper rose, along with his ki level.  
  
With an angered cry, Piccolo powered up and broke free of Goku's grasp. Goku landed on the ground and looked up at his opponent. Piccolo's eyes were glowing a deep blood red, snarling with his fangs bared. Needless to say, he was a bit miffed.  
  
"You think you can just push me around?! Well think again! This world WILL be mine and I WILL kill you! You and everyone else here!"   
  
Everyone's eyes went wide as Piccolo began to power up a powerful blast.  
  
"He-he's gonna kill us all!" Yamcha yelled.  
  
"No way." Bulma said, shaking her head. "He's joking. He's GOT to be joking." She turned to Colleen. "Tell me he's joking. It's just a bluff to scare Goku. He wouldn't do that to us, right?"  
  
"Oh, you'd be surprised by what he'll do." Colleen said, staring at the enraged warrior. Bulma grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently.  
  
"That was NOT the answer I WANTED!!"  
  
  
  
~*~*~  
  
The announcer, who'd been shocked into silence up until this point, made an interesting observation. "You know, without the turban, this guy looks a lot like Piccolo."  
  
"I AM Piccolo, you idiot!" he yelled down to the not-so-bright announcer, and loud enough so that everyone in the stadium could hear.  
  
The entire stadium was completely empty in two seconds. Only the fighters, the now very skittish announcer, and Z-gang stuck around.  
  
"You guys!" Goku called out to the others. "Move back! I don't know what he'll do."  
  
They moved back outside of the little backstage hut. ChiChi ran around the outer wall and screamed in frustration. "I can't see a damn thing!"   
  
No sooner had she said that when the portion of the wall she was standing by blew apart. She hurriedly climbed over the rubble to look on how the fight was going. Colleen and Bulma were right behind her. The guys flew above them, and Oolong and Puar sat on the edge of the wall that was still standing.  
  
"You better not die on us, Goku." Tien whispered.  
  
~*~*~  
  
On the battle field, Goku was getting nervous. Piccolo's ki was rising at an alarming rate, and he had absolutely no idea what he was going to do. He was having serious doubts about whether or not he could defeat Piccolo. That and he also had to find a way to get Kami out of Piccolo without killing him. This just was not his day!  
  
"Oh Goku." Piccolo tantalizingly called him. "Watch this."  
  
Piccolo began to descend to the ring floor. Once both of his feet were planted, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and began to concentrate. He started to grow…and grow, and grow, AND grow. When he stopped growing his height was that of a three story building.   
  
Goku stared up at the new gigantic form of a smirking Piccolo. His eyes went wide and his limbs went limp. If he had a mommy, he would have very much liked to hug her now.  
  
Everyone on the sidelines had eyes the size basketballs. Some were pointing, some were staring; some were pointing AND staring.   
  
Yamcha giggled nervously.   
  
"Oh my God, it's Piccolozilla." Tien spoke in a dazed voice, and kept a serious face.  
  
Piccolo laughed out loud at the looks on everyone's faces, especially Goku's. He looked as though he'd wet his pants any minute now! This was going to be very fun. He advanced toward the little man. Goku tried to leap out of the way. He should have looked before he leaped, for he was swatted like a mosquito back onto the pavement. Face first.  
  
The others looked on in horror as their friend was about to be squished. Tien tried to fly off and help Goku, but Colleen flew into his path before he could reach the ring.  
  
"This is their fight, not yours." She said.  
  
"What are we supposed to do, just sit and watch our friend die?" He balled his fists.  
  
"No. You are supposed to sit and root him on."  
  
He reluctantly backed down and floated down to the earth. She too came down and took her place back by Bulma and ChiChi at the hole in the wall. Holding the others back was seemingly going to become a problem.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Goku slowly got up from the pile of rubble he had created at his impact. He had to think of something fast. Then, a wonderfully brilliant idea came to him. You could almost see the light bulb over his head turn on. He stood up and prepared a kamehameha blast. Everyone looked quizzically at him, because he was preparing the blast facing AWAY from Piccolo.  
  
Piccolo walked toward him. 'What's he up to?'  
  
Goku suddenly fired the blast at the pavement and was cascaded into the air in Piccolo's direction. He went faster and faster until the blast sent him right toward Piccolo's mouth…and down his throat.  
  
ChiChi screamed. "Go…Go…ohhh!" her legs gave out as she fainted. Bulma caught her and lowered the both of them to the ground. She herself was shaking in shock and looked as if she'd faint as well. Krillin nearly went into conniptions and Puar had to slap him to calm him down.   
  
Piccolo was clutching his throat and trying desperately to cough Goku up. After all, it couldn't be all that pleasant having someone jammed down your throat. He started to cough and bent down on one gigantic knee. Colleen was very tempted to go and try to help dislodge Goku from Piccolo's throat, but remembered that everything would work itself out.   
  
After a minute that seemed like an eternity, Piccolo's coughing and hacking increased, and after much effort, Goku was spat out holding the bottle that Kami was entrapped in. Everyone stared at him wide eyed, and ChiChi chose this moment to wake up.  
  
"My Goku! He's alive!" she cried. She wanted so badly to run out onto the battle field and hug him, but she knew better.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Goku stood up and wiped himself off. He looked down at the little bottle to make sure Kami was alright. He looked a little dazed with swirlies in his eyes, but he would be fine. Goku lifted the bottle up for all to see.  
  
"Lose something?" he asked Piccolo with a wry smirk on his face. He quickly threw the bottle over to the crowd of friends which Tien caught. He pulled the cork out of the top and in a puff of smoke Kami was free.  
  
He had a dazed look on his face. "My…what happened?" he asked.  
  
"You were captured in the bottle and then Piccolo ate it! He grew to the extremely large size you see before you, Goku went in to get you, and here you are." Krillin explained.  
  
Kami frowned. "This battle shall be difficult for Goku. Piccolo has grown much stronger because of his training with the girl." He glared at Colleen. She in turn glared back.   
  
Piccolo reverted to his normal size and took a fighting stance once again. Goku charged at him, his leg extended for a powerful kick. As Goku's leg made contact with Piccolo's blocking arm, they once again moved with speeds beyond one's capability to see. Even though the battle could not be seen, it could definitely be felt. Even by those who had never practiced reading ki signatures could feel the waves of power radiating from the two heated warriors. So great was this power coming off them those without powers found it difficult to stand.   
  
"Man! Those two are really going at it!" Krillin shouted, stating the obvious. But that's what he does, and we love him for it.  
  
Tien blew a hole in the ground behind them. "Everyone get inside! It'll be safer here." The announcer was the first to jump in, followed by Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, Puar and Oolong.   
  
"Colleen, ChiChi, Kami come on, get in." Krillin called to them.  
  
"And miss my fiance's fight? Forget it!" ChiChi yelled back.  
  
"I'm watching the fight too." Colleen said. "Besides, you need someone to keep you posted on what's going on."   
  
She looked at Kami. "You, on the other hand, should get in the pit too. We wouldn't want you getting hit by a stray blast."  
  
Kami frowned. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I am the Guardian of Earth and need to-"  
  
Colleen held out her hand and sent a wave of energy in Kami's direction, knocking him in the pit cutting his sentence short. She sighed. "Ya know he and Piccolo are so similar it's funny."  
  
~*~*~  
  
Goku was trying to get into Piccolo's defense any way he could. This battle was getting out of hand, and he knew it. Not only were he and Piccolo in danger, but the others as well. There was no more time to be careful. He cupped his hands together one more time.  
  
"Ka…me…ha…me…"  
  
Piccolo smirked. "You wouldn't dare."  
  
"HA!!"  
  
Piccolo's eyes grew wide as the blinding blast grew closer and more powerful with each passing second. The blast hit him full on the chest and knocked him to the ground. The force of the blast pushed him farther and farther into the ground crushing the air out of his lungs.  
  
The blast ended its light fading away to reveal a huge crater where Piccolo had once stood. The air was silent as everyone watched the crater in anticipation. Piccolo was nowhere to be seen.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"What happened?" Bulma yelled from the pit.  
  
"Goku used a Kamehameha wave on Piccolo that caused a huge crater. Piccolo's not getting up." Colleen answered.  
  
"Is…is he dead?" Yamcha asked.  
  
"No." Kami answered. "My being alive is proof that he still lives. He may be unconscious."  
  
"Well," ChiChi turned her head to the pit. "Announcer, start counting!"  
  
"Hm? Oh! Yes, of course." He climbed out of the pit and ran over to the side of the crater where the ring used to be.  
  
"One...two…three…four…"  
  
Everyone had climbed out of the pit and was standing at the hole in the wall next to ChiChi and Colleen. They all had smiles on their faces as they knew Goku was about to win. How little they know…  
  
"Five..."  
  
"ChiChi." Colleen called for her.  
  
"Six…"  
  
"Yea?" She answered.  
  
"Seven…"  
  
"You might want to cover your eyes."  
  
"Eight…"  
  
"What?" ChiChi raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked back at Goku and the announcer at the crater. 'Why should I close my eyes?' she thought.  
  
"Nine…"  
  
The 'e' of nine had just left the mouth of the announcer when Piccolo suddenly shot up. He opened his mouth and a powerful blast shot out from it straight at Goku. Goku had dropped his defenses, so he was totally unprepared for the attack. The blast hit him in-between his shoulder and chest and went all the way through him, ripping a gaping hole.  
  
"Goku!!" ChiChi screamed as he fell clutching his shoulder and cried out in pain. She started to run to him but Tien grabbed her around the waist.  
  
"Let go of me!!" She screamed and started thrashing against him. "Let GO!!" Tien only tightened his grip.   
  
"If you go out there, Piccolo will kill you!"  
  
She sank down to her knees and sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "But…Goku…"  
  
He picked her up to her feet. "He'll be fine."  
  
"You don't know that!" She screamed.  
  
He took her by the shoulders and made her look him in the eyes. "I believe it."  
  
She hugged him around his waist and cried into his chest. "You sure as hell better be right." She choked.   
  
~*~*~  
  
Goku shakily stood and faced Piccolo who was walking towards him. He was breathing hard and had his hand over the hole in his shoulder. Blood was gushing out and spilling out over his fingers onto the ground. His vision was starting to get hazy from blood loss and he swayed from side to side.  
  
Piccolo stared at his opponent. He looked so pathetic and beaten like a dog. He smiled evilly. This was going to be a great victory. He would finally beat Son Goku. He charged Goku and proceeded to pound on every inch of his body. The sound of cracking bones and cries of pain could be heard. ChiChi covered her ears to keep from hearing it all. It killed her every time she heard Goku cry out in pain, and she felt sicker with every breaking bone.  
  
By the time Piccolo had stopped Goku was left with both of his legs broken and his left arm limp and bloody. He lay on the ground covered in blood, his breath coming in short, raspy intakes of air. Piccolo was also covered in blood, his right arm badly wounded and blood oozing from large gashes on his head and stomach. But he could stand, and stand he did. He loomed over his crippled enemy gloating without words. He glanced over to the sideline to see the reactions on everyone's faces.   
  
ChiChi was crying hysterically with Tien trying to console her. Krillin stared out in pure shock and Yamcha leaned on the wall looking as though he'd be sick any minute. Bulma had her hand over her mouth and her eyes were wide. Kami looked pissed as he had expected. But he didn't really care about them. The reaction he wanted to see was Colleen's. He looked over to her and their eyes met. She wasn't crying, didn't appear to be shocked or upset or…anything. She wasn't mad that Goku was about to lose, and wasn't happy that he was about to win. She instead averted her gaze to the ground.  
  
'Why won't she look at me?' Piccolo wondered. 'Didn't she want me to win? No matter. This all ends now.'  
  
He formed a large ki ball in his hand and aimed for Goku's head. He looked down to Goku who looked at him back. No fear was evident in Goku's eyes. In fact, he was smiling.   
  
'Must be the blood loss.' Piccolo thought.  
  
  
  
~*~*~  
  
Kami was furious. There was no way in HFIL he was going to let Piccolo win! "Tien! Kill me!"  
  
He looked at him as though he were insane. "WHAT?!"  
  
"You heard me. It's the only way. Do it!"  
  
"No, don't!" Goku yelled from the pile of rocks that used to be the ring. "I'm going to win. Just hold on a few seconds."   
  
Piccolo laughed. "Win?! You can't move! How do you expect to beat me?!" He fired the blast, its light swallowing Goku whole. His friends looked on in horror as he was devoured by the powerful ki blast.  
  
"It's over." Bulma dropped to the ground and cried. One of her best friends was gone. Forever.  
  
Piccolo sighed heavily and powered down. Now that he had stopped fighting he felt exhausted. He bent over trying to catch his breath with his hands on his knees for support. Even though he felt more tired now that he had ever in his life, he felt powerful and was overjoyed with his victory. A large evil smile played across his face as he looked at the dust cloud that hovered over the crumbling ring where Goku had once lay. Within the cloud he thought he saw something moving; hovering.   
  
'No, there's no way he could have survived that.' Piccolo reassured himself. But he had.  
  
"Look!" Tien cried out and pointed to the cloud of dust. There hovering above the ground horizontally with his face to the ground was Goku. He picked his head up and locked eyes with Piccolo.  
  
"You lose!" he yelled and shot off like a bullet towards Piccolo. Piccolo was so shocked he didn't even move or make any effort to stop him.   
  
Goku's head collided with Piccolo's chest hard, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying several feet. He landed with a great 'thud' on his butt and sat there wide eyes and stunned. What the heck had just happened?!  
  
"I don't believe it." Yamcha said smirking. "Hey ref, Piccolo fell out of the ring right?"  
  
He took a look at close as he dared and nodded. He raised his microphone to his mouth. "Goku is the winner!"  
  
Everyone cheered and leapt for joy. Bulma ran straight up to Yamcha and gave him the biggest kiss he'd ever gotten. ChiChi was elated; crying hysterically, out of happiness now instead of fear. Colleen gave a small smile to show her happiness. She was happy Goku won like he was supposed to, but she was also sad. Sad Piccolo had lost. Living with him for next couple of months was going to be difficult to say the least.  
  
Piccolo just sat there. He didn't have the energy, physically or mentally to move. How could he lose!? He was the son of Piccolo Daimoa, The Demon King! He was supposed to be the strongest being on the planet. But no, he had been defeated by a mere human! All the preparation…all the training…all the work: for nothing. He had failed. He had lost.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Again I am SO sorry for the wait. And this chapter probably sucks too.-_- I wouldn't blame any of you if you aren't around anymore. But if there are still some of you out there, you all have the patience of saints and I humbly ask for your forgiveness. I promise you the next update will me much, much, MUCH faster!! 


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